bank of thailand ’ s monetary policy : navigating towards sustained growth veerathai santiprabhob, governor of the bank of thailand thailand focus 2018 august 29, 2018 ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to be addressing you this morning. i will take this opportunity to speak to you about thailand ’ s economic outlook and monetary policy at this important time. but before i move on, i would like to first thank the stock exchange of thailand for hosting this event, and all participants for your interest in the thai economy and the thai capital market. this is an important time, not only for the global economy, but also for the thai economy. after five years of sub - par growth rates, thailand has managed to restore economic growth to its potential. as the economy moves from a recovery phase towards an expansionary phase, the role of macroeconomic policy needs to evolve accordingly. what used to be a stimulative tool will eventually have to transition into a support on which the economy could grow on a sustainable basis. furthermore, we need to step up structural reform policy to address long - term challenges. ladies and gentlemen, the turning point of macroeconomic policy stance is not a straightforward one. imagine yourself on a road trip with a group of friends. you were driving, and one of your friends asked you, “ when will we make a turn? ” if you have a gps navigator or open up google maps, you might be able to say with precision, “ in 2. 5 kilometers. ” when talking about a policy course, the answer might be, “ in the next two or three quarters, if things go according to plan. ” in real life, we policymakers do not have the luxury of having a gps navigator, not to mention the fact that this said turn could be moved closer or further away without giving any warnings in this volatile world. what we do have, however, are indicators we observe from our surroundings, and indicators of road conditions and possible storms ahead of us. similarly, the mpc considers a number of factors when formulating a policy decision — not only the current state of such factors, but also their longer - run trends and expectations of risk scenarios going forward. for a small open economy in an increasingly volatile world, mpc ’ s decisions will have to be data dependent. in my address to you this morning, i will share with you the factors that the mpc considers when making policy decisions. since the main objective of a flexible

pss has set a vision to foster integrated, safe, and efficient payment and settlement systems in the region that enable businesses and individuals to make or receive electronic payments with greater convenience. in achieving its goals, the working committee has identified the roadmap for regional connectivity which is divided into three phases. • in short term ( 2012 – 13 ), the roadmap focuses on promoting standardization to enable interoperability and inter - linkage among payment and settlement systems. international standards such as swift message or other message standards are encouraged to be implemented. • in mid term ( 2014 – 15 ), the roadmap focuses on improving existing infrastructure and payment environment. the improvement should meet economic needs, and takes the opportunity to standardize the systems to be ready for long term goal of regional integration. the bank of thailand has been proactive in this aspect. we have already upgraded our cheque clearing system from paper - based to image - based system, namely icas in bangkok and the metropolitan areas and we will launch the icas for the entire country within next year, and the new version of bahtnet system will also be launched next year. in addition, a policy to set up a system for local switching ( i. e. a system for switching, clearing, and settlement of domestic payment transactions via local debit card ) has been prescribed, and will come into force within 2013. • in long term ( beyond 2015 ), asean payment and settlement linkage should be explored. currently, the bank of thailand is exploring the potential of linking our payment and settlement systems with that of other countries, such as the linkage with hong kong usd chats which aims to reduce fx settlement risk. the second consideration is new channel of payment and new technology advanced development in information and communication technology ( ict ) has made it possible for money to move faster and more safely. important development nowadays is atm aseanpay, operated by national itmx, which already connects atm system between thailand and malaysia. more connections will be made in the future, which will help facilitate retail payment and money remittance across asean countries. moreover, other payment channels and instruments such as e - banking, e - payment, and mobile payment will play an important role in enhancing efficiency and inclusiveness of financial services. bis central bankers ’ speeches to get the real benefit from the advancement in ict, we need to educate and persuade customers to change their behavior in using other payment instruments, from cash to non - cash instruments.