Worries rise as baht scales six-year high

[thaistocks]

Thai Baht unreasonably strong. Why? The Bank of Thailand painted itself in a corner by first allowing its foreign reserves to soar over 220 Bill US$, a mega overzealous decision -resulting in a gigantic sterilization stalemate to the Thai economy and then keeps insisting on their strict foreign remittance rules pushed on Thai banks. Where even a small amount of foreign remittance at banks, mandates proof of why and paper work.  If they allowed more freely funds to move out at will and at ease, this would take the pressure off the rising Baht.

[isaanistical]

2 hours ago, Xonax said:

Am I the only one wondering, why non of the extremely expensive imported grocery products, that most of us foreigners buy, are not becoming cheaper in the stores, when they are becoming so much cheaper to purchase?

But there are bargains to be had (Thai-style)! Yesterday in Big C:

[holy cow cm]

Stronger the baht, then the new motivator is to buy products from other countries or force the exporters to take a hit. Normally the up and downs have supported themselves as, Q1 and perhaps Q2 - sellers take the hit and then Q3-4 it recovers for you to take the hit or spread out over a year and half scenario. But this strong baht is starting to hurt the exporters and foreign buyers as well as the expats on fixed income. But in all honesty, I don't think the elite rulers give a rats a** about it. If they did they would certainly have someone else than the Ole Fat head at the helm. 

[hobz]

1 hour ago, Cadbury said:

Imported goods should automatically become cheaper because of the baht. Lower for the importer that is.

And that's where it stops and doesn't get passed on; or if it does get passed on to the wholesaler it is unlikely to get any further than that. Certainly not to the consumer. It's called greed.

If there was such a thing as a Perceived Greed Index Thailand would be at the top.

In a competitive market somebody would take the opportunity to lower prices and beat the competition.

 

I can only see three reasons this is not happening.

 

1. There is only one major importer therefore no competition.

 

2. The competing importers have (illegally decided to fix prices and not compete with each other)

 

3. There is delay / lag in the competitive market forces.

 

[Sticky Wicket]

5 minutes ago, hobz said:

In a competitive market somebody would take the opportunity to lower prices and beat the competition.

 

I can only see three reasons this is not happening.

 

1. There is only one major importer therefore no competition.

 

2. The competing importers have (illegally decided to fix prices and not compete with each other)

 

3. There is delay / lag in the competitive market forces.

 

Monopolies and duopolies in Thailand.............Never!????

[spidermike007]

When dull people are faced with a crisis in the economy, their first thought is to raise taxes. It is the least creative, least visionary, and perhaps the most harmful approach to mending an economy that is in bad shape and suffering on so many levels. Prayuth was self appointed to the economic council. Nobody refused him entrance, based on his extreme lack of qualifications and intelligence. Now, he seems to be unable to find any solutions to the current problems, and will not even so much as engage in a debate on the continually rising baht.

 

These kinds of things happen when you have an administration that utterly refuses to function as a in a meritocracy, and is built on a flimsy foundation of cronyism. 

 

There is no doubt in my mind, and apparently in the minds of the world's tourists, that Thailand is going downhill very quickly. Can the slide be decelerated? I rather doubt it. Not with the current group of people at the helm.

 

My heart goes out to the Thai people. Most of whom are good people, and kind hearted souls, who are working their butts off to support their families, and watching prices rising every day. Why is that? With the rising purchasing power of the baht, one would think the opposite would be happening. But, when was the last time we have seen prices go down here? 

[Cadbury]

56 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

"Baht strong like Army. Strong good. Weak bad."

 

[Isaan sailor]

So let’s look at the big picture.  ChiComs seize Spratley Islands and militarise them.  In Cambodia they now build a naval base and military airport.  On Mekong they build multiple dams. Here in LoS they sell submarines and landing craft.  And Belt & Road calls for high speed trains.

Given these events—who do you think is pouring hot money into Bank of Thailand bond sales?  With a high Baht—western tourists will diminish, and exports will tank.  I think that would work well for the ChiComs.  They will send millions of their tourists to replace ours.

OK Baht apologists—now you can attack me...

[Oww]

I suppose it could be a coincidence that Thailand's largest private company CP group who's owner is ranked the 4th richest in all of Asia(est worth 36.6 Billion usd) benefits from a strong baht. Here is a partial list of there businesses; True, Makro, 7-11, Tesco, KFC, 5 star chicken, Chester grill and more. None of these businesses exports a damn thing AND he's been on record stating they buy their food processing/packaging equipment from the US!

[toofarnorth]

1 hour ago, Fallangpakwan said:

Australian cheese should be free., anyway the Tesco granola I have been buying has recently more than doubled in price.

Granola ...........I use it every week to make bars with it , brown sugar butter and honey , 2 weeks ago in Lotus 149B kilo , it dropped for about 1 day to 129b , 3 days ago I noticed it had gone up to 189B ! Yep 'Tesco Lotus always low prices '.

As said here , importers are getting the cut but selling at the same old price , importers win only.

[strabel23]

2 hours ago, soalbundy said:

what me worry? check out my new glasses

The baht has been rising in value steadily following the Asian financial crisis in 1997 and should be no surprise. What is surprising is that during all these years I have heard so many times from foreigners living in Thailand that they would not deposit their money in a Thai bank making comments such as bannana republic, unsafe banking etc. Now they're all crying about how little they are getting for their currency echange to the Thai baht. If you couldn't/can't look at a simple graph and see this happening for all these years then I don't feel sorry for any of you. Of course those that are living/eisiting only from monthly  pension income are the real sufferers and are indeed in a pickle through no fault of their own.

[tlandtday]

3 hours ago, soalbundy said:

what me worry? check out my new glasses

I'd bet those are clear lenses on those glasses designed to make him look more "urban and intellectual" lol. 

[tlandtday]

5 minutes ago, Isaan sailor said:

So let’s look at the big picture.  ChiComs seize Spratley Islands and militarise them.  In Cambodia they now build a naval base and military airport.  On Mekong they build multiple dams. Here in LoS they sell submarines and landing craft.  And Belt & Road calls for high speed trains.

Given these events—who do you think is pouring hot money into Bank of Thailand bond sales?  With a high Baht—western tourists will diminish, and exports will tank.  I think that would work well for the ChiComs.  They will send millions of their tourists to replace ours.

OK Baht apologists—now you can attack me...

first the tourists then the permanent settlers...

[CaptainNemo]

4 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

When dull people are faced with a crisis in the economy, their first thought is to raise taxes. It is the least creative, least visionary, and perhaps the most harmful approach to mending an economy that is in bad shape and suffering on so many levels. Prayuth was self appointed to the economic council. Nobody refused him entrance, based on his extreme lack of qualifications and intelligence. Now, he seems to be unable to find any solutions to the current problems, and will not even so much as engage in a debate on the continually rising baht.

 

These kinds of things happen when you have an administration that utterly refuses to function as a in a meritocracy, and is built on a flimsy foundation of cronyism. 

 

There is no doubt in my mind, and apparently in the minds of the world's tourists, that Thailand is going downhill very quickly. Can the slide be decelerated? I rather doubt it. Not with the current group of people at the helm.

 

My heart goes out to the Thai people. Most of whom are good people, and kind hearted souls, who are working their butts off to support their families, and watching prices rising every day. Why is that? With the rising purchasing power of the baht, one would think the opposite would be happening. But, when was the last time we have seen prices go down here? 

I think it's true that there will a long resistance to take bitter medicine and make the kinds of changes Thailand needs, and the risk is of looking abroad for answers and blame, and taking it out on foreigners.

It may mean more unfavourable policies towards the farang, which won't help the country at all.

 

I was in Indonesia recently, and due a combination of factors, some economic, and some political, there are almost no white faces to be seen in Jakarta. These countries need western expertise to thrive, they won't get it from countries like China, who simply want to exploit them, and Indonesian businesspeople told me they don't like dealing with the Chinese, who seem to only care about getting the lowest price.

 

For British, the <deleted> exchange rate is a lot to do with the British establishment's war against the result of the Brexit referendum, and it seems unlikely to drag on into next year. I expect the rate to climb back to over 40 to the pound by the new year, but over the long term, the rate is not looking like returning to 50 for the foreseeable future.

 

The underlying concern is the debt levels, which whilst not as bad as Germany and Italy, are not good, and the attitude towards debt and defaulting on loans could be the cause of a future financial correction.

Still, despite everything, Thailand is still looking better than many of it's neighbours, all of whom could be doing so much better than they are if only x, y, or z, were to happen. That's the trouble with SEAsia...

[tomazbodner]

It was weird to see 29.xx for USD at Kasikorn exchange booth 2 days back... And 32 for EUR.

[M71]

Ban money altogether it's now passed it's use by date. With the tech we have around the world now we don't need it, the planet supplies all resources we need to live for free nobody owns them. With today's tech working for us instead of against us nobody has to work and everything could be free. What do you need money for? Only fly in the ointment is the Banksters, the people who own the world's Central Banking System headquartered in Basel Switzerland. They want to keep the status quo of course living off of our labor. Give up the money system or go to jail, just like they did to the Banksters in Iceland.

[Mavideol]

3 hours ago, Xonax said:

Am I the only one wondering, why non of the extremely expensive imported grocery products, that most of us foreigners buy, are not becoming cheaper in the stores, when they are becoming so much cheaper to purchase?

if we start to see cheaper imported products that means Prayut's "elite" will be making less money and that will not happen

[Cadbury]

16 minutes ago, Oww said:

I suppose it could be a coincidence that Thailand's largest private company CP group who's owner is ranked the 4th richest in all of Asia(est worth 36.6 Billion usd) benefits from a strong baht. Here is a partial list of there businesses; True, Makro, 7-11, Tesco, KFC, 5 star chicken, Chester grill and more. None of these businesses exports a damn thing AND he's been on record stating they buy their food processing/packaging equipment from the US!

Makro, CP and Big C export something. They export their money to Vietnam to invest in a rapidly expanding economy.

They are not stupid, they know where the growth is and it's not in Thailand.

[Mavideol]

2 hours ago, BestB said:

As usual great thinking and planning

they do it for a 20 year plan, still have plenty of time 555

[Oww]

Read and weep 'mate';

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charoen_Pokphand

[the guest]

3 hours ago, Nyezhov said:

On a macro scale that makes sense, on a micro capitialist scale it doesnt.

 

Damn I want some Pringles!

Thailand bends the rules to suit itself. Imported goods should in principle be cheaper, but as usual, corruption and greed get in the way of normal rules of doing business. Personally all FTA with Thailand should be scrapped, they are not worth the paper they are written on.

[wtfracing]

2 hours ago, Jane Dough said:

The stores are fleecing us.

 

We need to rebel...get out the placards. "Vegemite Vendetta"  "Weetbix War" "HP till I die!"

Stand up and be counted!!

 

Rooster

Sorry no can do, I ran out of vegemite yesterday it is a must have lol

[wtfracing]

1 hour ago, xylophone said:

The Mainland cheese from NZ has to be one of the best around, esp the Vintage one, or sometimes buy the Tasty for a change.

 

The imported goods should come down in price given the strong baht, and have seen some wines being re-priced.........just right to go with the cheese!

Mainland vintage for the win

[Thaifriends]

If we compare more then 12-15 years back THB was around same or lower rate 29/1usd but people survived. It is clear that even groceries are quite higher especially in last 4-5 years.

 

When its not enough money to spend then dont buy imported stuff. Let those fat supermarkets reduce their profits as well. 

 

If go back to EU and start surviving on the same budget then one may only afford proceesed meat and Chez beer. So be kind to yourself by spending less and complain less.

 

Why come to Thailand if so fond of Australian cheese and cant live withtout it? The quality of MAKRO arrow cheese is good as well. Just a comparison by reading some comments of other members. 

 

This is rice, seafood and pork appetite country where bread just become affordable in recent years and now locals eat more in fashion like drinking wine.

[Jane Dough]

15 minutes ago, wtfracing said:

Sorry no can do, I ran out of vegemite yesterday it is a must have lol

I agree with you. If I ever run out of vegemite, then I have to start on the marmite. A reminder to get back to the store.....it's one of the few food items I would be prepared to be fleeced over!

 

Rooster

[Millcx]

2 hours ago, Cadbury said:

No I just go by what the experts write here, particularly about the tourism industry.

So where would you rate Thailand? Just so I get a truer perspective.

Top

[sammieuk1]

3 hours ago, Xonax said:

Am I the only one wondering, why non of the extremely expensive imported grocery products, that most of us foreigners buy, are not becoming cheaper in the stores, when they are becoming so much cheaper to purchase?

Often wonder who is buying those 10 quid pies????

[wtfracing]

4 minutes ago, Jane Dough said:

I agree with you. If I ever run out of vegemite, then I have to start on the marmite. A reminder to get back to the store.....it's one of the few food items I would be prepared to be fleeced over!

 

Rooster

Totally agree with that 

[thurien]

2 hours ago, Cadbury said:

Imported goods should automatically become cheaper because of the baht. Lower for the importer that is.

And that's where it stops and doesn't get passed on; or if it does get passed on to the wholesaler it is unlikely to get any further than that. Certainly not to the consumer. It's called greed.

If there was such a thing as a Perceived Greed Index Thailand would be at the top.

as long as we talk "pricing farang food": our problems are

a) limited consumer power - in total we are not too many

b) little competition between suppliers in the Thai market

c) a possibly high percentage of food (stock) loss - shelf life expired...

[aBigSmile]

 

Most of you clamor for the government and central bank (CB) to intervene. What you don’t get is the both are in cahoots with the commercial banks and lending institutes to extract as much money as possible from the Thai public. The strong baht is a merely a collator damage.

 

Explanation:

The lenders persistently lobby the central bank (CB) to keep interest rates high so as to maximize their income from loans to the public. For obvious reasons, the CB is more than happy to oblige, and the money lines the lenders’ pockets. In tandem, in a different field game, the high interest rate attracts foreign money, which rushes to Thailand and puts upward pressure on the THB.

 

In a way, it’s a classic racket to enrich a few at the expense of many. Not only does the ordinary Thai have higher monthly payment, but he economy suffers greatly due to shrinking export and diminished tourism. 

 

The day the government, through the CB, lowers the interest rate, is the day the TBH begins to slide.

 

Lastly, these sorts of things usually happen in countries where government is not accountable to the public.

 

Peace!