BANGKOK- Thailand’s headline consumer price index (CPI) increased 0.23 percent in June from a year earlier, slowing from a 0.53 percent year-on-year rise in the previous month, the commerce ministry said on Wednesday.
Headline inflation was the lowest in 22 months, due to lower food and energy prices and a high base last year. It is expected to rise slightly in the third quarter, the ministry said.
The figure compared with a forecast fall of 0.1 percent for June in a Reuters poll. The core CPI was up 1.32 percent year-on-year in June.
It was the second straight month that the main CPI dropped below the central bank’s target range of 1 percent to 3 percent.
In the January-June period, annual headline inflation was 2.49 percent and the core rate at 1.87 percent, the ministry said, with headline inflation for 2023 seen at 1 percent to 2 percent.
In May, Thailand’s central bank raised its policy interest rate by a quarter point to 2 percent. It will next review policy on Aug. 2, when some economists expect no rate change while others see a further hike.
Thailand’s economy continued to recover in May as tourism gathered momentum and private and public spending increased while exports remained weak, the central bank said on Friday.
Economic activity was seen rising steadily with tourist arrivals still increasing, said Sakkapop Panyanukul, a senior director at the Bank of Thailand (BOT).
“The economic recovery remained on its recovery track,” he told a briefing. “Economic activity in June and going forward should gradually improve,” he added.
The BOT expects economic growth at 3.6 percent this year and 3.8 percent next year, with the vital tourism sector a key driver. Last year’s growth was 2.6 percent.
The BOT projects the number of tourist arrivals at 29 million this year and 35.5 million in 2024. That compared with a record of nearly 40 million visitors in pre-pandemic 2019.
Exports, however, contracted for the eighth month in a row in May, down 5.9 percent from a year earlier, as global demand slowed.
