BOT Cuts Key Interest Rate To Boost Post-Flood Activities

BANGKOK, December 1 (TNA) - The Bank of Thailand (BOT) has further cut its key interest rate by 0.25 per cent, to 3.25 per cent annually, to boost the national economy in the wake of the country's flooding crisis. BOT Assistant Governor for Financial Policy Paiboon Kittisrikangwan announced that the new move was a resolution of the BOT's Monetary Policy Committee or MPC at its latest meeting on Wednesday (Nov 30) with a majority vote. Paiboon acknowledged that the decision followed the central bank's recent revision of its projection of Thailand's average gross domestic product (GDP) growth this year to 1.8 per cent, from 2.6 per cent. The BOT has, meanwhile, raised its forecast on Thailand's GDP growth to 4.8 per cent next year, from its earlier projection of 4.1 per cent, cushioned by rehabilitation activities in the post-flood period. (TNA)