Thailand's annual inflation rate came in at 1.23 percent in April 2019, little-changed from the previous month's six-month high of 1.24 percent in March while markets had expected 1.2 percent. Inflation was steady for apparel & footwear (at 0.3%), medical & personal care (at 0.3%), and recreation & education (at 0.3%). At the same time, inflation slowed for both food & non-alcoholic beverages (2.2% vs 2.4% in March), and housing & furnishing (0.5% vs 0.6%) while cost of transport & communication rose faster (1.1% vs 0.8%). For 2019, the central bank expects inflation to be in the range of 1-4 percent. Core consumer prices, which exclude raw food and energy, rose by 0.61 percent in April, after a 0.58 percent gain in March and roughly in line with estimates of 0.6 percent. This was the highest figure in three months. On a monthly basis, consumer prices went up 0.44 percent in April, after a 0.41 percent rise in March. Inflation Rate in Thailand averaged 4.10 percent from 1977 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 24.56 percent in June of 1980 and a record low of -4.38 percent in July of 2009.
Inflation Rate in Thailand is expected to be 0.80 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Inflation Rate in Thailand to stand at 1.00 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Thailand Inflation Rate is projected to trend around 2.20 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.