BoT to sit tight on rates

Taking a hit: Workers clean windows outside the arrival terminal at Suvarnabhumi International Airport. With only a fraction of foreign tourists expected this year compared with pre-Covid-19 levels, Thailand's economic recovery from the pandemic-driven slump will be slow. — AFP

BENGALURU: Thailand’s central bank is expected to hold interest rates at a record low of 0.50% until at least 2023 as the country’s tourism-dependent economy will struggle to find quick growth despite welcoming quarantine-free tourists, a Reuters poll showed.

In an effort to revive an economy struggling to recover from the collapse of its vital tourism sector, the South-East Asian nation allowed the first vaccinated visitors without quarantine requirements to Bangkok yesterday.