that (See Figure 2.). This reflects both a steep decline in non-traded production as well as a pickup in traded output, supported in part by a sharp depreciation of the baht.The rebound in activity has not generated perceptible upward pressure on prices. Core inflation has been close to zero for well over a year, averaging 0.14 percent in 2003
Headline inflation has also remained low, although consistently higher than the core rate, with an average of 1.8 percent in 2003 (see Figure 3.). Despite the substantial reduction in inflation, real interest rates, on both the lending and deposit sides, have fallen considerably since around the beginning of 1999 to historically low levels (see Figure 4.).2 While low interest rates are supportive of growth, they also reflect some underlying problems in the economy that will be discussed in more detail in Section 4