BANGKOK: Thailand’s annual main consumer price index rose for a fourth straight month in October, slightly higher than forecasts, government data showed on Wednesday, but the rate was still below the central bank’s target, giving it room to keep monetary policy accommodative.
The headline consumer price index climbed 0.86 percent in October from a year earlier, the same rate as in September. A Reuters poll projected a rise of 0.82 percent in October. The Bank of Thailand (BOT) has forecast 2017 headline inflation of 0.6 percent, below its 1-4 percent target range. But it expects that to return to the band by the middle of 2018. The BOT left its policy interest rate unchanged at 1.50 percent in late September, shrugging off calls from the government and businesses for a cut to contain the baht’s strength. The rate has been at that level since April 2015. It next reviews monetary policy on Nov. 8, and most analysts expect no change throughout this year. The core CPI index, which excludes raw food and energy prices, rose 0.58 percent in October year-on-year, the same as the poll’s median forecast. In the January-October period, headline CPI rose 0.62 percent from a year earlier and the core index increased 0.54 percent. Inflation in Thailand has also been contained by state price controls, subsidies and soft domestic demand.
