Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has expressed his disagreement with the decision of the Bank of Thailand to raise its policy rate, arguing that it is excessively high in comparison to the steadily falling inflation observed over the past several months.

The central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee unanimously voted to raise the policy rate to 2.50 last September and that rate was reconfirmed in November. The committee is due to meet again in February.

The prime minister said today that he holds regular consultations with the central bank about the policy rate and does not agree with the current rate adding, however, that the central bank governor is the person with the authority to alter the rate.

The prime minister also said that he has instructed the Commerce Ministry to ensure that the prices of farm products do not drop further, because that would adversely farmers.