Govt launching measure to tame wild baht

[saengd]

2 hours ago, GeorgeCross said:

is this a warning of an impending devaluation?

 

10,000 baht notes next week maybe?

 

 

I seriously doubt it. Unless the underlying cause of the strong baht are tackled, devaluation will only mean more baht for your foreign currency which in turn would mean increased inflows. The net effect of that would be an even stronger baht since demand would increase.

[tomauasia]

10 hours ago, legend49 said:

The cooks dog could have made a more interesting announcement. He must resign he has no idea of government or economics.

Thank you

[tomauasia]

9 hours ago, AhFarangJa said:

Translated headline:-

We have made our billions over the last few years with an artificially inflated Baht that we instigated.

Now we are getting flak from China and possibly U.S. about currency manipulation so we will adjust the Baht accordingly soon.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the good people of Thailand for allowing us to drain the countries resources while we invest billions overseas in our private bank accounts.

 

And please let my family walk frèely in BKK and respect that we deserve to steal your money and lives

[AussieBob18]

Lower the official Thai Reserve Bank interest rates !!!

Simple as ............. dare I say it.

 

[tomauasia]

Since they took the country it's been a downwards spiral speeding up like a tornado

 The answer and problem above

[tomauasia]

19 minutes ago, AussieBob18 said:

Lower the official Thai Reserve Bank interest rates !!!

Simple as ............. dare I say it.

 

There all in it together. All the suits.

[Fairynuff]

10 hours ago, legend49 said:

He must resign he has no idea of government or economics.

But he has every idea about holding onto power.

[Monomial]

How about forcing the Thai banks to actually implement the measures the BOT instituted in November that removed the restrictions on sending money abroad. As of yesterday, I could not find a single bank that was not still applying the old "positive list" rules to anyone wanting to do an outward remittance. 

 

Of course your currency is going to appreciate if you trap people in it by making it easy to buy but difficult to sell. 

[digger70]

7 hours ago, bluesofa said:

Is that food or football?

Submarines   

[Steve Vincent]

The strong baht is crippling the Thai economy.. poor exchange rate add to that the a.t.m charges ( poorer rate ) every time farang use a.t.m charged 200 / 250 baht per transaction .... Usually in Thailand at this time of year myself,. Unfortunately won’t be until March and instead normal 3 months will just 2 month visit. If it wasn’t for my Thai family,i wouldn’t be returning,as it’s becoming very expensive sending family money and paying for sons schooling ..... long gone are the days of 72 baht to the pound. 

[david555]

Just moving back to the baracks instead of Bangkok goverment house would do the trick in perfection .Hang up the camouflage civillian suits in the wardrobes...

[bristolgeoff]

not  a expert but the strong baht has a effect on tourist,exchange rates  and a few others.plus trade has  a effect of buying less or more.they will realise when less tourist come and things go up for the people or traders.they must look at the world and realise if a strong baht or other currency has a effect they lower it or make it more realistic value

[NCC1701A]

18 hours ago, webfact said:

host of measures

"When the baht comes down this parachute controls the speed."

"I see."

 

[fusion58]

THB/US Dollar just fell below that 30/1 psychological barrier.

 

29.5/1 as I type this. 
 

Yikes!

[tigertiger]

The current exchange rate is making Thailand less of a destination now that prices have risen so much.  As a consequence I have cut out one of my yearly trips. I remember when the Baht was pegged at B25/$US, but expenses in Thailand were far far cheaper than they are now!  In the 90's $10/day was a reasonable expectation to eat.  Decent hotels could be had for $25. Less if you dropped your standards!

 

In any case, I am buying fewer items to export due to the rising costs. Add to that the fact that the US has dropped the GSP on Thai goods.  Shipping via air/sea cargo now has become nearly unviable.

Edited December 25, 2019 by tigertiger

[Trevor Collins]

Who are they kidding? The strength of the Thai baht depends on global factors and nothing the Thai government does will alter the value of the baht against major currencies.

[lonewolf99]

29.5    For the Americans....Ouch....

 

in 2005 it was 11,400 UK pounds in the bank to retire now it is 20,500 - speaks volumes.

[saengd]

1 hour ago, lonewolf99 said:

29.5    For the Americans....Ouch....

 

in 2005 it was 11,400 UK pounds in the bank to retire now it is 20,500 - speaks volumes.

In 2005 Thailand was near the start of a long road of recovery following the crash in 1997. The writing was on the wall then that THB would get stronger but few people understood that. The more obvious wall writing was that the Pound had been in a long term decline against USD, the Pound was going down and the Baht was going up, that trend continued until today but most British expats thought things would change for the better at some point, they didn't. The vast majority of expats were in denial, many said it would recover to 70, then 60, then 50, the idea of 40 was blasphemy, boiling frog syndrome in full force.

[Brunolem]

7 hours ago, Trevor Collins said:

Who are they kidding? The strength of the Thai baht depends on global factors and nothing the Thai government does will alter the value of the baht against major currencies.

First, the currency is not a government issue, but a central bank issue.

 

None of the posters above understand that it is not the baht going up because of insane policies, but the major currencies going down because of insane policies (ZIRP ou even NIRP + QE = currency destruction).

 

So what they recommend is that Thailand should jump into the bandwagon on its way toward the cliff!

 

Thailand is not responsible for the euro, Brexit and American way of life on massive credit (including military adventures), but for now it is suffering the consequences.

 

If you are the only clean one in a 100 meter dash final, with the seven other competitors doped to their eyeballs, you are going to lose, but they are going to have short lives...should you join them nevertheless?

 

[wazzupnow]

LIKE EVERYTHING IN THE KINGDOM TO LATE high season is ending many bankrupcies to come, rice mountain growing

[kiwikeith]

On 12/25/2019 at 11:27 AM, Robert Tyrrell said:

So far what I’ve seen is

ALOT OF HOT AIR !! and Brown Envelopes getting FATTER !!

Meanwhile the reality of honest working hard Thai People’s lively hoods being destroyed !!  

The measure to be introduced soon may be to cash up quickly, sell your overseas investments boys and stash the cash.

[Artisi]

On 12/25/2019 at 5:54 AM, ezzra said:

Tell me about it, the USD TT rate stand at 30.40 baht to 1 usd, this is a fantastic rate and good for those who convert THB to USD...

of course we couldn't guess who might be gaining in this little exercise now could we - it wouldn't be certain people processing dodgy brown envelopes and the likes - or well-off hi-so with a few Bhat to spare, would it?     

 

[fruitman]

17 hours ago, Trevor Collins said:

Who are they kidding? The strength of the Thai baht depends on global factors and nothing the Thai government does will alter the value of the baht against major currencies.

If they start printing more baht it will sure go down.

[saengd]

5 hours ago, fruitman said:

If they start printing more baht it will sure go down.

"To get richer, a country has to make and sell more things – whether goods or services. This makes it safe to print more money, so that people can buy those extra things. If a country prints more money without making more things, then prices just go up". 

 

http://theconversation.com/curious-kids-why-dont-poorer-countries-just-print-more-money-107633

[fruitman]

1 hour ago, saengd said:

"To get richer, a country has to make and sell more things – whether goods or services. This makes it safe to print more money, so that people can buy those extra things. If a country prints more money without making more things, then prices just go up". 

 

http://theconversation.com/curious-kids-why-dont-poorer-countries-just-print-more-money-107633

Go tell that to your kids and not to me please.

 

Thailand can easy print money and invest it in public transport for example. It's not about getting more rich but about bringing the value of the baht down because investors are on the run with it.

[saengd]

2 minutes ago, fruitman said:

Go tell that to your kids and not to me please.

 

Thailand can easy print money and invest it in public transport for example. It's not about getting more rich but about bringing the value of the baht down because investors are on the run with it.

OK, so let's follow that through, Thailand prints more money and invests it in public transport, for example, what does that accomplish in terms of the economy that the current infrastructure projects wont accomplish using debt?

 

As things stand presently there are a number of infrastructure projects in the works, some approved and ready to kick off. Those projects are funded by borrowings which are financed by issuing bonds. The end result in economic terms is that money supply is increased and debt levels are also increased. If the government were to do the same thing but by printing money they would forgo the debt and merely increase the money supply: 

 

"The basic cause of inflation is the government's unwillingness to cut its spending plans or to raise the funds it desires by increasing taxation or by borrowing from the public. Politicians want to spend but they do not want to raise taxes.

 

Inflation is caused by printing more money. The government's monetary policies are responsible for this. Keynesian spending policies and ideology and the abolishment of the gold standard have permitted the government to depreciate our currency. The answer is to eradicate state control of the money supply. We need to divest government of its power to arbitrarily increase or decrease the money supply". 

 

https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/111314/what-causes-inflation-and-does-anyone-gain-it.asp

 

 

 

[fruitman]

5 minutes ago, saengd said:

OK, so let's follow that through, Thailand prints more money and invests it in public transport, for example, what does that accomplish in terms of the economy that the current infrastructure projects wont accomplish using debt?

 

As things stand presently there are a number of infrastructure projects in the works, some approved and ready to kick off. Those projects are funded by borrowings which are financed by issuing bonds. The end result in economic terms is that money supply is increased and debt levels are also increased. If the government were to do the same thing but by printing money they would forgo the debt and merely increase the money supply: 

 

"The basic cause of inflation is the government's unwillingness to cut its spending plans or to raise the funds it desires by increasing taxation or by borrowing from the public. Politicians want to spend but they do not want to raise taxes.

 

Inflation is caused by printing more money. The government's monetary policies are responsible for this. Keynesian spending policies and ideology and the abolishment of the gold standard have permitted the government to depreciate our currency. The answer is to eradicate state control of the money supply. We need to divest government of its power to arbitrarily increase or decrease the money supply". 

 

https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/111314/what-causes-inflation-and-does-anyone-gain-it.asp

 

 

 

The reason why the baht is so strong compared to the us$ and the euro is that they both do print more money.

 

And i guess the chinese know that thailand won't do it so that's why they buy baht for billions of $...also because they can see their own recession coming soon and the cardhouse will collapse.

 

Thailand really needs the good public transport or would you say that bKK has no traffic/pollution issues?

 

Which rich tourist will come to stinky jammed BKK for a holiday? Plenty of better options on the world which are even much cheaper.

 

If thailand doesn't act fast the exports and tourism will collapse....that leads to less tax income for the government and the downward spiral has started and can't be fixed.

 

 

[saengd]

1 hour ago, fruitman said:

The reason why the baht is so strong compared to the us$ and the euro is that they both do print more money.

 

And i guess the chinese know that thailand won't do it so that's why they buy baht for billions of $...also because they can see their own recession coming soon and the cardhouse will collapse.

 

Thailand really needs the good public transport or would you say that bKK has no traffic/pollution issues?

 

Which rich tourist will come to stinky jammed BKK for a holiday? Plenty of better options on the world which are even much cheaper.

 

If thailand doesn't act fast the exports and tourism will collapse....that leads to less tax income for the government and the downward spiral has started and can't be fixed.

 

 

I don't agree at all that the Baht's strength is the result of money printing.

 

The strength of THB results from export bills denominated in USD, Thailand is an export driven economy. That income had to be exchanged for THB within one year although BOT has now extended that timeframe. The net effect is the demand for THB is high which when purchased using USD, cause THB to increase in value. Compare the high levels of exports with the low level of imports and we see a current account surplus every year, that combined with low foreign debt makes Thailand a magnet for FDI which further fuels the demand for THB and further increases its value. Finally, Thailand's managed floating peg system is based on inflation being in a range of 1-4.5% and they can't even get up to the 1% threshold, hardly a symptom of money printing!

[ukrules]

On 12/26/2019 at 4:36 AM, saengd said:

but most British expats thought things would change for the better at some point, they didn't.

so far, they haven't changed for the better so far....

[huberthammer]

TV should set up a monetary think tank. It seems there are a lot of people with great expertise on TV who seem to be able to address the conundrum of balancing politics, monetary and currency policy. With all the Geniuses living here they left a shortage of brain power back home. Maybe the TV think tank can then help tackle the reversal of the QE in the US, managing monetary issues resulting from BREXIT and help the Swiss National Bank with the burden of the strong Swiss Franc.

 

I feel enlightened by all thoughtful suggestions...