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Thailand hikes interest rate to 2.0 percent
AFP - Thursday, December 2
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Thailand hikes interest rate to 2.0 percent
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BANGKOK (AFP) - – Thailand's central bank raised interest rates for the third time this year on Wednesday, as predictions of an expanding domestic economy fuelled inflation expectations.
The Bank of Thailand hiked the cost of borrowing to 2.0 percent, up from 1.75 percent, as assistant governor Paiboon Kittisrikangwan said the country's "economic fundamentals remain strong".
"The economy is expected to grow continuously next year due to robust domestic demand as a principle driver of growth, an upward investment cycle and continued growth in tourism," he said.
In a statement explaining the policy decision, Paiboon said inflationary pressures, while currently stable, were expected to increase in future due to higher input costs driven by economic expansion.
Official figures Wednesday showed inflation in November at 2.8 percent year-on-year, unchanged from the previous month's rise.
The consumer price index (CPI) rose 3.4 percent for the first 11 months of 2010 from a year earlier, according to commerce ministry permanent secretary Yanyong Phuangrach. He predicted the full-year rate would be 3.3 percent.
Core inflation, which excludes food and energy sectors, was 1.1 percent in November year-on-year, down from 1.3 percent in October.
The Bank of Thailand raised rates for the first time since 2008 in July, part of a wave of similar moves in Taiwan, India and Malaysia that indicated growing confidence in the economic outlook by monetary policymakers in Asia.
The cost of borrowing was raised again in August, but the central bank paused for breath in October as the Thai baht, along with other Asian currencies, surged against the US dollar, hitting a 13-year high.
Higher interest rates -- as well as strong economic performance and buoyant stock markets -- are blamed for a flood of foreign funds into the region that has pushed up currencies and threatened the competitiveness of exports.
Thiti Tantikulanan, head of capital markets at Kasikorn Bank, said the hike initially took markets by surprise, but the rate was still "very low compared to the 3.75 percent before the crisis in 2008".
He said the decision was likely to be driven by a desire to avoid the below-normal rates driving investment bubbles in the stock and real estate markets.
The Thai economy has remained relatively resilient in the face of deadly political violence earlier this year, but has not been immune to a slowdown in US and European economic growth as well as a slumping dollar.
Official figures last month showed the kingdom slipped back into recession, contracting slightly for two consecutive quarter-on-quarter periods.
But with gross domestic product growing 10.6 percent in the first half of 2010 year-on-year, with a 6.7 percent expansion in the third quarter, the government has upgraded its full-year forecast slightly, to 7.9 percent.
The strong baht, along with slow economic growth in some trade destination nations, was blamed for weaker growth in the key export sector in October, up 15.7 percent annually compared with a 21.2 percent increase in September.
But the government has revised its 2010 export growth target to about 25 percent, up from a previous projection of 20 percent.
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