Thai Omicron outbreak key risk to economic recovery

Thailand's outbreak of the Omicron coronavirus variant could have a larger and more prolonged impact than expected on an economic recovery, according to minutes of the central bank's last policy meeting released on Wednesday.

Although, under the baseline scenario, the Omicron outbreak would not derail the overall Thai economic recovery, the outbreak situation remained highly uncertain, said the minutes.

On Dec. 22, the Bank of Thailand's monetary policy committee unanimously voted to keep the benchmark interest rate at a record low of 0.50% for a 13th consecutive meeting to support the economic recovery.