Thai Finance Minister Suchart Thadathamrongvej said he wants lower interest rates, which will help weaken the baht and boost exports.
“When our rates come down, the baht will weaken,” Suchart said at a seminar in Bangkok yesterday. “I want to see a weaker baht. But the current level is also okay. Our exporters will benefit more if the baht is weaker.”
Thailand has refrained from joining its counterparts across Asia in cutting interest rates to support growth amid global financial and economic turmoil. Bank of Thailand Deputy Governor Bandid Nijathaworn yesterday said the central bank should consider cutting its benchmark interest rate at its next meeting on Dec. 3 because growth risks outpace inflation concerns.
Bank of Thailand Deputy Governor Atchana Waiquamdee said later yesterday that the baht should be determined by the market mechanism.
“Any action to make the baht resist market trends will only have limited impact,” Waiquamdee said.
The bank will consider cooling inflation and the prospect of an economic slowdown at next month’s meeting, she said.
“We are ready to use interest-rate policy to take care of the economy,” Atchana told reporters in Bangkok.
The baht was trading at 34.97 to the greenback at 11:27am in Bangkok, little changed from 34.93 late yesterday, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. It fell to a 14-month low of 35.12 on Oct. 31, having slumped this year as anti-government protests and a slowing economy kept overseas investors away.
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