BANGKOK, Jan 28 (Reuters) – Thailand will impose controls on gold trading as it bids to tackle its overvalued baht currency and ease pressures on economic growth, central bank governor Vitai Ratanakorn said on Wednesday.
The baht has gained about 1.5% against the dollar so far this year after a 9% rise in 2025, threatening the competitiveness of the export and tourism sectors.
With the rapid appreciation driven in large part by gold trading, Thailand will cap daily gold transactions at 50 million baht ($1.62 million) starting from March, Vitai said.
“The objective is to reduce volatility and prevent sharp appreciation of the baht that could affect the broader economy,” he said, adding that large gold transactions conducted in baht generate rapid inflows and reduce the reliance on the U.S. dollar.
Vitai said Thailand’s economy may grow by up to 1.7% this year and is still below its potential.
Growth should be as high as 2.7%, and as well as short-term stimulus measures, efforts were also required to tackle “structural” issues in the economy, he said.
He added that next year the economy should grow between 2.2% to 2.3%, with inflation also expected to return to its target range.
Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy has been struggling with the appreciating baht, U.S. tariffs, high household debt, a border conflict with Cambodia and political uncertainty ahead of elections in early February.
(Reporting by Kitiphong Thaichareon, Orathai Sriring and Chayut Setboonsarng, Editing by David Stanway)
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