The Bank of Thailand (BoT) may raise the policy rate one last time at the end of the month after a steady pace of tightening since August helped bring inflation back to target in less than a year, according to analysts.
The BoT will probably lift its benchmark rate by a quarter-point to 2% on May 31 and then maintain the rate in the foreseeable future, according to the median estimate of 26 economists in Bloomberg’s latest quarterly survey. While the projected peak rate was unchanged from the previous poll, analysts now see that the central bank will wind down its tightening this quarter instead of next.
