BANGKOK: Thailand's headline inflation rate likely held steady in January, still below the central bank's target, while December factory output growth was slightly lower, a Reuters poll showed.
The median forecast of 12 economists was for the headline consumer price index (CPI) to rise 0.80 percent in January from a year earlier. In December, it was up 0.78 percent.
The Bank of Thailand (BOT) forecasts 2018 headline inflation of 1.1 percent, but it expects consumer prices to return to its 1-4 percent target range in the first half of the year.
The BOT left its policy interest rate steady at 1.50 percent, near a record low, since April 2015.
It will next review the policy on Feb. 14, and most analysts expect no change for the rest of 2018. However, some predict a rise in interest rate in the second half of this year.
According to the poll, the core inflation rate, which strips out energy and fresh food prices, was 0.65 percent in January, little changed from December's 0.62 percent.
Thailand's manufacturing production index (MPI) likely rose 3.5 percent in December on-year after November's 4.23 percent rise, according to the poll.
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