THAILAND’S currency fell by the most among Asian peers on investor concerns that the independence of the nation’s central bank is being further eroded.
The baht fell more than 1 per cent to 34.739 per US dollar on Tuesday (Nov 12), the weakest since Aug 19, after a panel was said to pick Kittiratt Na-Ranong, a former finance minister and a vocal critic of the central bank’s hawkish monetary policy, as Bank of Thailand’s (BOT) new chairman.
Investors have been questioning the central bank’s independence ever since the government ramped up pressure to cut interest rates and the rumoured appointment “added to investor caution”, said Eugenia Victorino, head of Asia strategy at Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken in Singapore. “As long as the central bank’s independence is at risk, investors will stay long on US dollar-baht.”
The baht has declined more than 7 per cent this quarter in Asia’s worst performance, as Thailand’s government campaigned for the central bank to cut borrowing costs. The outlook has dimmed further as investors grow cautious about emerging assets following Donald Trump’s election victory and expectations of sweeping trade tariffs.
While the BOT chairman does not decide on policy, Kittiratt will have a say in who joins the Monetary Policy Committee and can assess the performance of the governor.
“The likely appointment of Kittiratt as the new BOT chairman could have given rise to market expectations for more rate cuts to come next year,” said Lloyd Chan, a currency strategist at MUFG Bank in Singapore. With Thailand one of the most exposed economies in South-east Asia to Trump’s tariffs, “it’s a double whammy for the Thai baht”, he said. BLOOMBERG
