Thailand’s January headline CPI rises 1.32% y/y, within central bank’s target range

THAILAND’S inflation rate quickened in January in line with analysts’ expectations, staying in the target range for the second consecutive month and lifted by higher energy and food prices, the commerce ministry said on Thursday.

The Thai headline consumer price index rose 1.32 per cent in January from a year earlier, within the central bank’s target range of 1 per cent to 3 per cent, after the previous month’s annual increase of 1.23 per cent, the ministry said.

The figure compared with a forecast rise of 1.30 per cent in a Reuters poll.

The core CPI was up 0.83 per cent in January from a year earlier, versus a forecast increase of 0.80 per cent.

Headline inflation in February should be close to January’s level and at about 1.1 per cent to 1.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2025, Poonpong Naiyanapakorn, director of the ministry’s trade policy and strategy office, told a press conference.

“The current inflation is appropriate” for the economy, he said.

The ministry is maintaining its headline inflation forecast at between 0.3 per cent and 1.3 per cent in 2025, after last year’s 0.40 per cent.

Last week, Bank of Thailand Governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput told Reuters headline inflation was expected to be 1.1 per cent this year and the current policy interest rate at 2.25 per cent was appropriate, but the central bank was prepared to adjust it if the situation changes.

The central bank left the rate unchanged in December after a surprise quarter-point cut in October. The next policy review is on Feb 26.

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On Monday, Deputy Finance Minister Paopoom Rojanasakul said the ministry wanted to see a cut in the key rate this year and would discuss monetary policy easing with the central bank. REUTERS