Dovish Bank of Thailand surprises with rate cut

BANGKOK – The Bank of Thailand (BoT) has unexpectedly cut rates, voting 5-2 to reduce rates to 1.75%. ANZ says this means there has been an additional dove on the Board, in addition to four members who voted for a 25bps cut at the bank’s March meeting.

“With only two out of 20 of forecasters expecting an easing in this instance, BoT is clearly leveraging on the surprise element to do some of the easing for them, especially with limited space to move on rates,” ANZ says.
“The downward revision in growth forecast (by 0.2ppt) by the Ministry of Finance prior to the rate decision was ominous and indicative of rising political pressure from within the Government for BoT to ease. www.live.anz.com (ATI).