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© Reuters. Skyscrapers are photographed towards the setting solar in Bangkok, Thailand, January 4, 2023. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha/File Photo
By Orathai Sriring and Kitiphong Thaichareon
BANGKOK (Reuters) -Thailand’s annual headline client inflation fee fell to its lowest in 35 months in January, information confirmed on Monday, and the commerce ministry mentioned it anticipated worth pressures to ease additional within the first quarter.
The headline client worth index (CPI) fell 1.11% in January from a yr earlier, the commerce ministry mentioned, versus a forecast drop of 0.82% in a Reuters ballot, and towards December’s 0.83% fall.
The decline in January was the fourth in as many months and was pushed by authorities vitality subsidies, decrease meals costs, and a excessive base impact from final yr, the ministry mentioned.
It was the ninth straight month that headline inflation was beneath the central financial institution’s goal vary of 1% to three%.
Despite decrease inflation and authorities strain on the Bank of Thailand (BOT) to ease coverage, it’s anticipated to go away its coverage fee unchanged at a greater than decade-high of two.50% on Wednesday, a Reuters ballot confirmed.
BOT Governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput not too long ago instructed Reuters the present coverage fee was ‘broadly impartial” and negative headline inflation was not a concern or deflation.
The central bank left its key rate steady at its November review, having raised it by 200 basis points since August 2022 to curb inflation.
The commerce ministry predicted headline CPI would fall 0.7% year-on-year in the first quarter, with government measures to lower living costs the main factor.
“There remains to be no deflation but because the core fee stays optimistic,” Poonpong Naiyanapakorn, head of the ministry’s commerce coverage and technique workplace, instructed a briefing.
The core CPI, which stripe out recent meals and vitality costs, rose 0.52% year-on-year in January, versus a forecast rise of 0.57%.
For 2024, the ministry maintained its forecast for headline inflation at between -0.30% and 1.7%, after final yr’s 1.23%.