Central bank warns to currency volatility in view of US-China trade spat

By THE NATION

 

Chantavarn

 

Trade tensions on the international front are likely to be lengthy and intense after the US responded to China’s decision to boost tariff on $75 billion worth of US goods by hiking the tariff on most exports from China, said Chantavarn Sucharitakul, assistant governor of the central bank’s Corporate Strategy and Relations group.

 

The tariffs cover agricultural products as well as clothing, chemicals, textiles and automobiles, making global trade more fragile, she said. 

 

Thailand has been negatively affected by this trade spat between the two superpowers, which has brought Thai exports down in the past six months. However, she said, Thailand’s exports are still relatively steady compared to neighbouring countries.

 

She also said that since the trade war has made exchange rates volatile, entrepreneurs should pay more attention to foreign exchange risk management by the Bank of Thailand, she said. 

 

The Thai National Shippers’ Council, the Thai Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Thai Industries have also come up with different tools to keep entrepreneurs informed, including tools on managing exchange rate risks, she said.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/business/30375379

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2019-08-26

Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking Thailand news and visa info

Thai baht volatile? No <deleted>, Sherlock!

Life in the Thai bubble..

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

Thailand has been negatively affected by this trade spat between the two superpowers, which has brought Thai exports down in the past six months

While THB is up up up

 

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

Thailand’s exports are still relatively steady compared to neighbouring countries

yeah because neighbouring countries exports are on fire, while Thai's steadily going down

555 they could only be so lucky.

 

I'm absolutely convinced they can't edge the baht down because corporations and banks have huge foreign denominated loans.

Too funny—Bank of Thailand is the root cause of the overpriced Baht.  They drink in hot money inflows from the ChiComs almost daily.  This drives the Baht up.  And now they have the audacity to warn people of Baht volatility....

Bank of Thailand has a lot to answer for.. eventually when the export markets show dramatically low returns things might change !

If Thailand’s exports are “negatively affected” by the trade war—this strongly implies Thailand is selling to the WRONG market, the ChiComs.  Maybe they should lower the Baht and focus on western markets.

This is another example of a Thai official saying something positive about Thai economy while the person on the street says the opposite. I think these people just want to get their 15 minutes of fame before they get their 15 minutes of shame.

Movement in one direction is not volatility.

With so many contradictory statements coming out from all difference sources, would not surprise me if i go to sleep and wake in the middle of some crisis or crash with headlines such as "unforeseen" or "unexpected" 

On 8/26/2019 at 9:10 PM, Number 6 said:

555 they could only be so lucky.

 

I'm absolutely convinced they can't edge the baht down because corporations and banks have huge foreign denominated loans.

Neither the government nor the private sector have foreign denominated debt of any significant size.

My theory is that the central bank is protecting the local bank industry. It will bring much joy if BOT lowered interest rate with a full percent point. 

The Baht will drop, tourist and exporters will love it. It will give Somchai and his 80% of GDP household debt some much needed relief. So why is BOT not doing it?

When money is cheap, banks have a harder time making money.

Just look at European banks. After feasting for years on easy QE money, now share prices are falling and they are cutting dividends. The fall of Deutsche Bank is just one example.

Down under ANZ have already been cutting dividends and as the central bank of Australia lower interest rate, they will also start to hurt.

18 hours ago, bronzedude said:

This is another example of a Thai official saying something positive about Thai economy while the person on the street says the opposite. I think these people just want to get their 15 minutes of fame before they get their 15 minutes of shame.

Maybe the statement is drafted with input from TAT.

I just moved to a Thai bank an amount more than sufficient to meet the 800,000 baht requirement when I extend my long stay visa in three months. But I created a Foreign Currency Deposit account, denominated in US dollars, to receive it. At some point next year it might be worth it to change a little into baht, but certainly not now.

3 hours ago, Enzian said:

I just moved to a Thai bank an amount more than sufficient to meet the 800,000 baht requirement when I extend my long stay visa in three months. But I created a Foreign Currency Deposit account, denominated in US dollars, to receive it. At some point next year it might be worth it to change a little into baht, but certainly not now.

Not sure, but I believe there are restrictions on the type of account and currency to satisfy the retirement requirement.

 

Did immigration say it was OK? 

On 8/26/2019 at 9:10 PM, Number 6 said:

555 they could only be so lucky.

 

I'm absolutely convinced they can't edge the baht down because corporations and banks have huge foreign denominated loans.

The Thai elite, or top 100 families, want to travel and buy property abroad. They won't accept any devaluation (market, or  not) of the baht...

On 8/27/2019 at 11:05 AM, bronzedude said:

This is another example of a Thai official saying something positive about Thai economy while the person on the street says the opposite. I think these people just want to get their 15 minutes of fame before they get their 15 minutes of shame.

What do you expect? They (are) drive(n) around in their Mercedes, between downtown office and Suburbia villa, not seeing or caring about the growing number of poor people. Decline in economic growth rate; so what? No problem for them...