Thailand’s already “very accommodative” monetary policy is fuelling robust growth that’s spreading across the economy, said Bank of Thailand Governor Veerathai Santiprabhob.The outlook comes as an exports revival in Thailand gains momentum despite a recent rise in the nation’s currency, the baht. Better demand from key trading partners is helping to offset strength in the exchange rate, Veerathai said.

Malaysia, and to a lesser degree Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, remain more exposed to exchange rate risk than other developing economies in East Asia and the Pacific as global financial conditions tighten, the World Bank said.Companies and banks in these countries have sizeable external debt, although foreign exchange reserves currently appear adequate, the Washington-based multilateral lender said in a report on Wednesday.

Vietnamese working abroad and sending money home will help keep the currency stable and enable the central bank to focus on supporting economic growth, a senior official said.Nguyen Hoang Minh, deputy head of the State Bank of Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh, said remittances to the city are forecast to rise 10 percent to 5.5 billion dollars this year, helping ensure enough supply of foreign currency.

With Indonesia and Vietnam cutting interest rates in the past two months and Thailand fending off pressure to do the same, the Philippines is emerging as the region’s lone candidate for a rate increase this year.While all economists surveyed by Bloomberg predict Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (the Central Bank of the Philippines) will hold its benchmark rate at a record-low of three percent on Thursday, a separate poll showed almost half forecast an increase by the fourth quarter.

A public rift between Thailand’s central bank and government on interest rates shows just how much of a dilemma the baht has become for the economy.The Finance Ministry is pushing the Bank of Thailand to cut interest rates to stimulate growth, in light of the strength of the currency and low inflation.

Across much of Asia, foreign currency reserves have never been stronger.India’s foreign currency reserves are set to hit a new high of 400 billion dollars, enough to cover a year of imports, while holdings of international currencies in South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia are all at record levels.

Its sovereign bonds don’t yield much more than US Treasuries, they cost less to insure than Spanish notes and its currency is more stable than China’s managed yuan.In a sign of how the flood of money into emerging markets is upending conventional wisdom, military-run Thailand with a credit rating just three levels above junk at Moody’s Investors Service has become a favoured low-yielding destination for bond investors.A current-account surplus that’s forecast to be around 10 percent of gross

Malaysia celebrates the 60th anniversary of its independence from the British Empire on August 31, 2017. For sixty years, this proud Southeast Asian nation has adopted its own currency that is known today as the ringgit. Following the story and the origins of the ringgit, The ASEAN Post met with a Malaysian currency collector in the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur - the capital city of Malaysia.