Experts expect Thailand’s key interest rate to remain frozen at 0.5%

The committee is also expected to announce an 8.1-per-cent contraction this year and a 5 per cent growth next year.
Naris Sathapholdeja, head of Thai Military Bank (TMB) analytics, said the MPC will decide to keep the interest frozen at 0.5 per cent, because the economy is in a worse state than expected.
He also said the MPC may consider reducing the fee banks have to pay to the Financial Institutions Development Fund (FIDF).
“Commercial banks pay 0.23 per cent of their deposit base as fee to FIDF,” he added.
Naris added that MPC may, like other countries, also decide to implement the yield curve control measure.
Another expert who believes the MPC will freeze the interest rate at 0.5 per cent is Pipat Luengnaruemitchai, chief economist of Phatra Securities.
Pipat also believes that the MPC will call on those related to Thailand’s financial policies to take some concrete steps.
Amonthep Chawla, chief of CIMB Thai Bank’s research office, said the MPC should also consider the strengthening of the baht, which will have an effect on the economy.
However, he said, MPC’s estimates on the gross domestic product should not be too different from the market’s prediction, though he would be interested in learning how the committee sees the economy.
Amonthep said the interest rate should remain the same because the economy has not changed since the last MPC meeting.