|
|
| • EXCH RATES |
|
Baht/$ 34.57/62 (Bid/Ask)
|
GOLD |
13,100
|
|
BANK OF THAILAND
PARISTA YUTHAMANOP
The Bank of Thailand will ask the Council of State whether it can conduct monetary policy if the appointment of the new Monetary Policy Committee is delayed, according to Arkabusk Krairiksh, a central bank assistant governor.
The next meeting of the MPC, which convenes every six weeks, is scheduled for Oct 8. But its membership, along with that of the board of directors, expired at the end of August because of the new Bank of Thailand Act taking effect six months earlier.
A new MPC might not be formed in time for the meeting because four experts need to be nominated by the board of directors, which is still not in place.
Mr Arkabusk said the central bank would study whether the new law allowed it to conduct monetary policy if a new MPC was not in place until after the next scheduled meeting.
''We want to make sure any change in monetary policy we might make will not be later nullified because the law does not permit us,'' he said.
Under the law, the central bank governor will chair the MPC, which consists of two deputy governors and four experts in economics and banking. The MPC will set the monetary policy target in collaboration with the government and report to the cabinet every six months.
So far this year, the MPC has increased the one-day repurchase interest rate two rounds to 3.75% from 3.25% to curb inflation. Central bank governor Tarisa Watanagase has not ruled out a further increase even though inflation has eased in August with the sharp fall in oil prices.
The MPC uses core inflation, which excludes energy and fresh food from the consumer price index, as its monetary policy target. Its goal is to keep the core inflation within a range of zero and 3.5% per quarter over the next two years.
In any case, the central bank is likely to propose that the MPC use headline inflation as its target because core inflation has considerably lagged increases driven by commodity prices.
At the end of July, the cabinet approved six directors to the central bank's 12-member board, including Pornchai Nuchsuwan, former deputy minister of the PM's Office, as chairman.
Other directors include Jaroong Nookwan, a former central bank deputy governor; Kanit Sangsubhan, the director of the Fiscal Policy Office's Policy Research Institute; national police chief Pol Gen Patcharawat Wongsuwan; Vutthiphan Vichairat, director of the Budget Bureau; and Attorney-General Chaikasem Nitisiri. The appointments are pending final approval by His Majesty the King.
The other six directors include the central bank governor and four deputy governors, the secretary-general of the National Economic and Social Development Board and the Fiscal Policy Office director-general.
Prev
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
Next
