Thailand should urgently hike rates

Seeking a balance: Foreign tourists walk along a popular street in Bangkok. The Thai policy committee left the key interest rate unchanged for a 16th straight meeting in a split decision early this month despite inflation at a 14-year high. — AFP

BANGKOK: Thailand’s central bank should urgently hike interest rates to prevent a further spike in inflation and ease the burden on low-income groups already reeling from the rising cost of living, according to Korn Chatikavanij, a former finance minister.

The Bank of Thailand (BoT) should convene an emergency meeting of its monetary-policy committee to lift its benchmark rate from a record low of 0.5% to close the gap with the US rates, said Korn, who was the nation’s finance minister for three years until 2011.