BOT plans no measures to cope with eurozone crisis

BANGKOK, June 20 (TNA) - The Bank of Thailand (BOT) says that it has not planned any measure to cope with the ongoing European debt crisis and has maintained its earlier projection that the Thai economy should grow by up to 6 per cent this year, thanks to a drop in inflation in line with a global economic downturn and declining world oil prices. The BOT has announced, however, that it would cut its policy interest rate if the eurozone debt crisis deepened, insisting that its present 3 per cent repurchase rate appears to be suitable for the time being. BOT Governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul affirmed Wednesday, after his speech at the Euro Money Fair in Bangkok, that the Thai central bank's 3 per cent repurchase rate is appropriate for the present condition of the national economy, but if the debt crisis in Europe worsened, stalled the overall European economy and slowed down the world economy, the BOT would then further cut the key interest rate. Prasarn pointed out that liquidity in the Thai financial system has remained normal and net capital inflows have been retained, though at a small extent, and that the net capital inflows happen in the local bond market while the Thai stock market experiences some outflows in accordance with its bearish situation. The BOT chief acknowledged that the central bank has measures and instruments to cope with movements and outflows of foreign funds, including those concerning interest rates and liquidity, and that the BOT's earlier prediction that the Thai economy should grow by 6 per cent in 2012 has been maintained. (TNA)