BANGKOK: Thailand’s headline inflation rate may have increased only slightly in September while factory output growth slowed, a Reuters poll showed, suggesting the central bank still has room to keep interest rates low. The median forecast of 11 economists was for the headline consumer price index (CPI) to rise 0.45 percent in September from a year earlier. In August, it was up 0.32 percent.
The Bank of Thailand forecasts 2017 headline inflation of 0.6 percent, below its 1-4 percent target range. But it expects inflation to return to the band by the middle of 2018. It next reviews policy on Nov. 8, and most analysts expect no change for the rest of 2017. According to the poll, the core inflation rate, which strips out energy and fresh food prices, was 0.50 percent in September, little changed from August’s 0.46 percent. Thailand’s manufacturing production index likely rose 2.8 percent in August on-year after July’s 3.73 percent increase, according to the poll.
