nigelforbes

HSBC doesn't have a retail banking license in Thailand, you can't open an account there.

Interesting, can you recall what your nieces numbers were, it will interesting to compare notes to understand the differences? Our niece is studying Computer Engineering which is a 4 year program. We have told her that she doesn't need to get a job during the first year until she finds her feet and better understand how easy or hard the course will be - so far the calculus is proving difficult. I am 99% certain that the on campus accommodation is 17.5k per year, that's four in a dorm with aircon. The monthly spending money is also accurate since that's what I transfer to her and my wife monitors spending and tops up and pays for specials as needed. I'm less certain about the government Uni. fees which I will verify and report back. Reporting Back! I was way off on the Uni fees, the government loan is for 17k per term times two terms per year for four years (don't know where the 65k x 2 came from, sorry).

I'm sorry I wasn't more clear, the government loan pays the University fees, she doesn't see any of that.

I'm helping put our niece through Uni. in Phitsonaluk. She got a government loan (as most people from poor rural backgrounds do) which has to be repaid on low interest rates starting two years after she graduates. I pay for her on campus accommodation of 18k per year plus I send her 7k a month for expenses. I believe the government loan is for 65k per semester x 2 semesters per year for 4 years.

"Great article I would have thought that the South would be richer. Not that much compared to the North/NE really... Surprising". If you look at the color coded map on the right hand side of the page you'll see that the South is in fact mostly richer than the North. It's not until you compare the NE against the South that you begin to understand why people from Issan flock to the islands for work.

Well, my UOB Premier account of 14 years standing (Airport Branch), changed from not withholding tax to withholding tax, as of June this year. When I queried them on this point they told me what I posted earlier. Perhaps you don't have tax withheld on your savings because you're special, dunno! Oh yes, I also have tax withheld on my UOB Fixed accounts also. And yes, UOB has had my Thai tax ID on file for at least a decade.

I understand that long standing rule has now changed and everyone, foreigners and Thai's now have tax deducted at source and must reclaim tax via an annual return. I bank with UOB who have paid the first 20k of interest free of tax, until June when they reverted to deducting tax from all interest payments. The reason for the change is because the system was being abused with people opening multiple accounts to avoid tax.

Population = 70 million (2020) Labor Force = 39 million (2019) "Just three million Thais out of 67 million regularly pay income taxes". https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.TOTL.IN?locations=TH https://asiafoundation.org/2015/04/15/thailand-and-taxes/#:~:text=Just three million Thais out,greater the tax management costs.

Less than 6% of the population pay taxes via the equivalent to PAYE, tax deducted at source, The Revenue is desperately trying to expand this tax net. The BOT figures only reflect earnings of workers where tax is paid at source, that means the other 94% of the population are not included, hence the category of "workers not included elsewhere of 20 mill". The Thai workforce is about 26 million people.

I agree Peter that it doesn't always equate but if you look at the color coded map in the wiki link it seems to be fairly indicative.

For me, the tuna has too much unusable passenger/ cargo space in the back whereas a truck bed is much lower profile and eminently more usable for transporting different types of goods than is possible to carry in the tuna. Perhaps if we had a large family I might feel different but most of the time it's just my wife and myself. Plus there's a trade off, if the design is so good that you love it to death, you'll relax a little on the size issue, at least I will.

Whoa! My Vigo gets over 1,000kms per tank.

I'd love to buy the Ford Raptor, it's a great looking vehicle. But Toyota reliability and build quality remains a strong favorite with me, the brand has never let me down. The four tuna is too big for my taste, perhaps the new model will suit me better. Until then I'll stick with my Vigo and sadly, I will never buy a Ford for the all the opposite reasons of why I will buy a Toyota.

The following link may help the OP better understand reginal disparity regarding wealth and income. Note that Metro. Bangkok has 50% of the country's GDP whereas the Northeast has about 9%, average national salaries are therefore nothing more than a massive distortion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Thai_provinces_by_GPP

There are plenty of web sites that attempt to report average income in Thailand, some are listed below. The biggest problem with those sites is that most of them ignore that earnings in Thailand vary significantly between regions. Bangkok has the highest income levels, the North East has the lowest, that makes trying to come up with average number folly. Individual numbers reported based on hearsay at likely to be anecdotal which is why the BOT statistics or similar are the only useful sets of numbers. https://tradingeconomics.com/thailand/wages https://biz30.timedoctor.com/average-salary-in-thailand/ https://www.ceicdata.com/en/indicator/thailand/monthly-earnings

His name is Dr Roy: https://www.rutnin.com/en/doctor/detail.36.1_Roy_15_0.html

There's no spin involved, it's a matter of very simple fact. The previous poster wrote, "When US stocks tank—Baht follows down". I replied that there is no inverse relationship between US stocks and the value of the baht. What that posters statement says is that when Facebook, Tesla and Amazon stock falls in value, THB follows that fall. Why would they, simply, they don't. If the poster had written that frequently, USD strengthening is the cause of US stock market falls and frequently, that translates into contagion which spreads to the Thai stock markets and causes them to fall also, that would have been accurate. Or if he would have said, when USD strengthens THB weakens that could possibly be correct, (but there's much more to it than just that). But to draw the connection between movements in US equity markets and the value of THB is utter nonsense. You do understand I hope that the US Dollar Index is only an index in the same way that the S&P and the Nasdaq are indexes. It is possible to buy index trackers for either of them but they are not considered to be a part of core equity market stock per se. So yes, the value of USD does move in line with US Dollar Index, the one tracks the other, that's how they are designed. And when USD strengthens or weakens, THB strengthens or weakens accordingly. But THB doesn't tank every time the US equity market tanks. You might want to read up what the US Dollar Index is, it's FOREX based, not equities based: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/u/usdx.asp The Dollar Index is dependent on the performance of 6 currencies, not on equities, it's only connection with equities is that the Index is reported via a tracker. Lastly, I never said or even implied that THB is fixed to USD. Under IMF rules THB maintains a floating peg to USD, that's the full extent of that point.

Cooler air at this time of the year means an inversion layers form, that's where heavy dense air traps warmer more polluted air, close to the ground and prevents it from rising. That's why the numbers are up. You can see an inversion layer when a column of smoke rises and then goes horizontal. High AQI readings and inversion layers is indicative of local pollution and not blown in pollution from neighboring countries which is typically at a higher level.

Perhaps I wasn't entirely clear when I said markets, I referred to equity markets, not FOREX, there is no inverse relationship between US equity markets and THB. But on the subject of the relationship between USD and the BAHT: Thailand operates the Managed Floating Peg against USD, it is not fixed hence the movements between the two are variable and unpredictable, in both directions, as we are seeing currently. Also, BOT holds it's Foreign Currency Reserves in 24 foreign currencies that are the currencies of its major trading partners, less than 50% is currently held in USD although all the reserves are accounted for in USD. Foreign currency swaps are becoming the order of the day as different countries attempt to replace USD with other things.

I said I wouldn't but I have: https://www.greenpeace.org/southeastasia/press/45425/air-pollution-responsible-for-29000-deaths-across-31-thai-provinces-in-2021-greenpeace/ https://cdn.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/210212c-killeen-archer-air-quality-in-thailand-wp-2101e-final.pdf

Not entirely. After 10 years here I was diagnosed with Coronary Artery Disease and with Chronic Bronchitis, neither of which I had previously. Would I have been diagnosed with those things if I'd lived somewhere that has pure air? Dunno. But I do know that statistically the North of Thailand sees proportionality far more incidents of both those diseases so perhaps I'm just another statistics, if you want proof of the foregoing you only need to do some googling. (I'm not going to do it for you)

Most specialists have hours at multiple private hospitals as well as hours at a government facility plus hours at their own clinic. If you can't get to see the specialist at one place, at the price you want to pay, try somewhere else and see him/her there. Seeing them at their own clinic is the cheapest way, followed by a government hospital followed by the private hospital pecking order of costs. If you plan on seeing a specialist at a private hospital, it helps to be able to confirm you're actually seeing who you think you're seeing. It's common for patients to see student doctors at government hospitals but it's unusual for that to happen at private hospitals. I did run into a situation in February where I was scheduled to see a professor who was a senior retinal specialist at a private hospital who completely missed a torn retina, despite a huge floater. The ruse was uncovered at the follow up visit two weeks later when I saw a totally different doctor with the same name and she spotted the tear. The second doctor was the real deal and she performed laser surgery there and then, in a bit of a panic I might add. Be careful.

I understand those things, it's just information, there's nothing hot or bothered about any of this. I just thought you might find it helpful to understand what conditions need to exist for us both to be disappointed by the future exchange rate.

I also wish for that but realistically it won't happen. As soon as the current account is in surplus once again, the value of THB will strengthen. For that to happen, either exports or tourism will need to increase and not by a huge amount, 15 million tourists per year looks like the inflection point. In practice a combination of the two things may see THB strengthen sooner.

US markets and THB do not have an inverse relationship, why would they? One is a forward view of the US economy, the other is a foreign currency that is unrelated to the US economy and is not pegged to the USD! US markets and USD often have an inverse relationship. When US markets fall, the VIX Index or fear gauge usually rises and the US Dollar index also rises, which means that USD strengthens. It's conceivable that the link you imagine is between falling US markets, Asian bourse contagion and the negative impact that contagion has on minor currencies such as THB but there is no direct relationship whatsoever.