Thai Prime Minister Urges Emergency Interest Rate Cut, Citing "Economic Crisis Situation"

The Prime Minister of Thailand urged the central bank to hold a special meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee to lower the benchmark interest rate.

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin of Thailand
[Photo by Yonhap News]

According to local Thai media on the 20th, Prime Minister Seta Tawisin emphasized through his social media (SNS) the night before that the Bank of Thailand (BOT) must urgently review the benchmark interest rate before the regular Monetary Policy Committee meeting scheduled for April 10.

Also serving as the Minister of Finance, he pointed out that the Thai economy is in a serious crisis based on economic indicators released by the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC). Last year, Thailand's gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate was recorded at 1.9%. The GDP for the fourth quarter of last year increased by 1.7% compared to the same period the previous year, significantly falling short of market expectations.

Since last year, Prime Minister Seta has been calling for a cut in the benchmark interest rate, citing the economic crisis in Thailand, but the central bank has rejected this. This has led to ongoing conflicts between the government and the central bank over monetary policy direction. On the 7th, the central bank also kept the benchmark interest rate steady at 2.5%.

The Bank of Thailand continuously raised interest rates in eight Monetary Policy Committee meetings from August 2022 until September last year. During this period, the benchmark interest rate rose from 0.50% to 2.50%, an increase of 2 percentage points, reaching the highest level in 10 years. Subsequently, the benchmark interest rate was held steady for two consecutive meetings in November last year and last month.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.