Thai baht lags behind peers on concerns over central bank's autonomy

Thailand’s currency has fallen the most among Asian peers on investor concerns that the independence of the country’s central bank is being further eroded.

On November 12, the baht fell more than 1% to 34.739 per U.S. dollar, the weakest since August 19, after a panel was said to pick Kittiratt Na-Ranong, former Finance Minister and a vocal critic of the central bank’s hawkish monetary policy, as the 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 cited by Bloomberg.

The baht has declined more than 7% 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./