roquefort

33 minutes ago, Mike Lister said:

That scheme is still not live so I doubt that it's priced into the value of THB.  Most of what we're seeing with THB presently is driven by USD value and USD interest rates. Once government debt increases because of the scheme, then I would expect to see further falls.

 

Another aspect is that as of the end of March, only 50% of the current year budget has been disbursed, the other 50% was with held to help support the case that the economy was in trouble hence the giveaway scheme was much needed. What is likely to happen is that the scheme will be started, the remaining budget released and government will look like hero's for saving the day, then they can say, I told you so. What will happen thereafter is that water will find its own level and things will revert to the norm and everyone will realise that government just increased its debt, for no good reason and the Baht will fall further.

You could be right, although markets tend to anticipate these things and price them in advance. In any case only one way to go for the baht from here, which I suppose will make a lot of expats happy.

1 hour ago, Mike Lister said:

The value of THB is falling because USD is strengthening, for two reasons. The first is its safe haven status in times of conflict and second because the US economy is roaring back to life and US rates will remain higher for longer.

Nothing to do with the unfunded 10,000 baht vote buying scheme then?

2 hours ago, Gweiloman said:

Correct me if I’m wrong but NATO was created to contain the Soviet Union. Soviet Union is no more so NATO’s raison d’etre is also no more. However the generals are greedy to continue the grift for obvious reasons. 

The two main objective of any bureaucratic organisation such as NATO:

1. The survival of the organisation

2. To extend the power and therefore the budget of the organisation.

Makes perfect sense to me.

On 4/1/2024 at 12:49 AM, swissie said:

I remain: The central banks are gobbeling up Gold massively. At the same time Private Investors get rid of their Gold holdings.

There is a good reason I called this thread as "the Gold Enigma".

 

There's a good reason private investors are know as "dumb money".

2 hours ago, Roo Island said:

I had a great experience at Samitivej Sukhumvit 49.

+1

High street banks are dead in the water. Closing branches everywhere, online apps nowhere near as good as Wise. The future is Wise!

48 minutes ago, noobexpat said:

 

Why not just use any investment platform that you already have?

This is for noobs who've never invested before and just see 4.67%

Its not slightly, the fund costs 0.1% and wise takes 0.46%

 

I'm not looking to invest in gilts. I can do that through my investment portfolio. This is a current account to park spare cash and earn a decent rate of interest.

1 hour ago, noobexpat said:

 

Here lies the problem. I suspect you don’t understand this is actually an overpriced gilt investment fund.

 

I understand perfectly. I'm happy to pay slightly over the odds for a gilt fund that pays me a better rate on my cash than UK bank deposits and allows me to access my funds immediately at any time.

49 minutes ago, noobexpat said:

 

They don't offer interest bearing deposit accounts though, only their fixed interest funds through blackrock(?) ...which are overpriced anyway.

GBP 4.67% instant access. Not too shabby.

-

Wise beats all the traditional offshore banks in terms of ease of opening accounts and convenience.

21 minutes ago, mrfill said:

Except, of course, the story is a bit short on detail. Like the fact that the fund was set up in December 2022 with £119m being allocated and the additional £237m was added in December 2023. It is a fund to be used globally, not just in Thailand and so far Egypt, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Philippines, Turkey and Vietnam have shown interest in the fund. Grants of up to £100,000 can be awarded to UK institutions to collaborate in research.

 

Not quite the magic money pit it is being puffed up as being.

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/international-science-partnerships-fund-ispf/international-science-partnerships-fund-ispf

 

https://opportunities-insight.britishcouncil.org/news/opportunities/grants-international-research-collaborations

Thanks for the clarification. There's usually more to these stories than meets the eye. Very lazy 'copy & paste' journalism.

3 hours ago, stoner said:

 

no bother just keep raising the debt ceiling. which has almost doubled in the last 10 years. funny that. 

At some point reality kicks in. Think Wily Coyote.

That kind of money should produce plenty of studies with the results the Western governments have ordered funded.

Why is the government setting prices for sugar? That should be the job of the market according to supply and demand.

Zombies were a band from St Albans, England. Still around, they played in the cathedral recently.

15 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

President Steinmeier is obviously a man possessing a spectacular level of ignorance. Did he even pay attention to the most recent elections which were stolen by PT and the army? Does he know anything about the bought and paid for senators? Is this guy paying attention at all or is he simply sleep walking through life? It appears that he would say or do anything and it also appears that this clown is not a man possessing a shred of integrity. Exactly the same as the Thai Army and PT. 

Integrity? He's a politician FFS......and a diplomat. A diplomat's job is to lie for his country.

58 minutes ago, John49 said:

 

Nobody above has mentioned it but I read that one major point about Vietnam was, the people in the South are friendly, and the people in the North are unfriendly.

 

I've found the opposite. Northerners are much more friendly....and nobody mentions the war.

9 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Why even bother? I've been to Vietnam three times and I walked away terribly unimpressed. I find most people in Vietnam to be very distant, some of them as cold as fish. No thanks, I'll stick with Thailand, I like my friends they're fun to be around and they're very light-hearted. 

You must have met the wrong people. Most of the Vietnamese that I know are delightful, friendly and welcoming people, but it takes all sorts to make a world.

4 hours ago, BE88 said:

 

He is not talking about the photo but about the cities Sapa, Hanoi and Hoi An

Irony obviously lost on you.