The Bank of Thailand is optimistic about the country's economic outlook, which is supported by strong growth in exports, says central bank governor Veerathai Santiprabhob.
"In its latest meeting, the Monetary Policy Committee [MPC] considered different economic indicators and decided to raise the GDP forecast to reflect a clearer recovery of the Thai economy, especially in merchandise exports," said Mr Veerathai.
The Bank of Thailand's MPC recently raised its GDP growth forecast for both this year and 2018 to 3.8% from the 3.5% and 3.7% it predicted in July, respectively.
The committee also increased its export growth forecast for this year to 8%, up from 5%.
He said merchandise export data showed continued and more broad-based growth in terms of type of goods and markets.
"We also observed more companies benefiting from strong growth in exports. Growth is no longer concentrated in a few big companies or groups," said Mr Veerathai.
More broad-based growth in exports combined with healthy expansion in tourism has supported employment increases in some industries, especially those related to exports, he said.
Mr Veerathai said private consumption continued to recover gradually, which also contributed to the revision of the GDP growth forecast.
The recent movement of the baht against the dollar was mainly because of the depreciation of the US dollar against every currency, he said.
"The key factor affecting currency movements is the financial market's view of the dollar, which includes a number of considerations like the US monetary policy and tax reform," said Mr Veerathai.
A substantial part of offshore inflows into Thailand recently have been driven by investor views of major industrial countries (mainly the US) and by geopolitical risk in the Korean Peninsula, he said.
"Given all of these factors, we may see some investors who don't want to take much risk, keeping their money in the low-risk market for some time," said Mr Veerathai. The central bank will keep a close eye on these developments, he said.
"We will continue to monitor the capital flow situation and are ready to issue any necessary measures," said Mr Veerathai.