Thailand will adjust rates to curb inflation

Thailand’s central bank may raise interest rates further as oil above $100 a barrel and surging food prices add to inflation pressures stoked by the fastest economic growth in 15 years.

“The risk on growth is probably less of a concern, so the risk balance is tilted toward inflation,” Governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Bangkok Monday. “You can expect further adjustments” in interest rates, he said.

Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said Monday an oil fund used to cap the local price of diesel may run out of cash around July, underscoring the urgency for alternative policy measures to tame inflation. The Bank of Thailand raised rates five times from July to March as accelerating inflation forced Asian nations including India, South Korea and the Philippines to tighten monetary policy. 

(Bloomberg)