Bank of Thailand unfazed by US currency watchlist inclusion

BANGKOK, April 17 (Bloomberg): The Bank of Thailand has responded to the US decision to keep the nation on watch for currency manipulation by asserting it has stepped into the market only to curb volatility in the baht.

The central bank is committed to exchange-rate flexibility, with "interventions limited only to curbing excessive volatility and rapid movements of the baht on both sides,” Assistant Governor Chantavarn Sucharitakul said in a statement Saturday, adding that "Thailand has never used the exchange rate as a tool to gain an unfair trade advantage.”