Monetary policy via Facebook is Southeast Asia in turmoil

SINGAPORE/JAKARTA/MANILA (Aug 24): As the economic landscape gets more rocky, Southeast Asia’s central bankers are turning to Facebook and YouTube for help in getting their messages across.

The Bank of Thailand was the latest to adopt a live video-streaming of its policy announcement in August, three months after the Philippine central bank did the same. Bank Indonesia, which has more Twitter followers than the Federal Reserve, recently stepped up broadcasts of its policy decisions to every month.

Central bankers are using social media to keep markets calm and to help explain their decision-making more directly to households that are feeling the pinch from currency turmoil and rising prices. Of the five main central banks in the region -- Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines and Malaysia -- only the Bank of Thailand hasn’t tightened policy yet this year.

---

Related Stories

• Australia’s social media ban for under 16s to become law
• Australian government drops bill on social media misinformation
• Foreigners dump Thai bonds as BOT signals no further rate cuts

---