Thailand's inflation is still relatively low and manageable as the economy recovers gradually and more foreign tourists return, the finance minister said on Tuesday.
As global price pressures increase, the kingdom has clear plans to prevent inflation from accelerating and overly affecting living costs and consumption, Arkhom Termpittayapaisith told reporters.
"Inflation is a global issue. Every country's inflation has increased but ours isn't high compared with others," he said.
The country’s headline inflation rate was 4.65% in April, down from March's 5.73%, the fastest pace in 13 years, helped by government measures including price controls and fuel tax cuts.
On Monday, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said the government was aiming to keep inflation under 5%.
Mr Arkhom said the number of foreign tourists should reach 7 million this year following an easing of restrictions. In 2019, there were nearly 40 million foreign tourists.
A planned tax on stock trades will not be introduced until the economic recovery is stable, he said.
The government was planning to introduce a 0.1% tax on equities trades by entities with a monthly trading volume of more than 1 million baht.
