Coronavirus outbreak has turned Asia’s best-performing currency into one of the worst

[Jaxxper]

The minor change so far is not going to change my life day to day.

[Neeranam]

Damn, and I'm going to the UK soon with the family. Maybe should buy my pounds now?

Actually, in this modern world, it doesn't matter, can sell some BTC in the UK.

[Polaky]

Cannot believe those figures, hardly moved against aud, Americans are fine regardless, their dollar is strong, it's the rest of us that are doing it hard.

[sitti]

Thai government had been wanting weaker baht for sometime now because strong baht is impacting export performance, making Thai products more expensive thus less competitive. It may get slightly weaker, however, baht is expected to remain relatively strong this year. Whatever drops we may see caused by China risks are only temporary and I see them as the chances to make money ????

[shackleton]

I think a few people on here are living in hope the Thai baht will crash 

You might get more for the $ in the long term

But against  the pound I think it's going to be a bumpy ride this year coming 

More chance of the pound going down than up 

Will get a better Idea after Boris sorts out his Cabinet minister's next week

[Harveyboy]

16 hours ago, geisha said:

Why did the baht drop last week, 34.60 B to 1 euro , and now it’s back to 34 ?? Is it likely to drop again soon ? 

Yep wondering that myself.  If the Bah TT I'd seeing death why is the euro dropping. Good question

[kevin612]

Keep dropping, Thai baht.

[raccos21]

[BobbyL]

1 hour ago, Assurancetourix said:

But for all those who live here, the farang retreats and for example the Thai people, would you have forgotten them? who never leave their country because they do not have a passport or simply because they do not have the means to go outside the borders of the country, that complicates our life.

 

How many hundreds of expats live on royal wages?

 

Most expats live on a local contract, so far from earning a lot of money.
and I know pensions, eg my neighbor (4 km) Norwegian who has a more than comfortable retirement, about 180,000 baht fall on his Thai bank account every month;
well he is not happy at all because in recent years he has lost a lot on the exchange.

Slightly confused about what you mean in the opening paragraph.

 

Anyway, my point stands for people earning good salaries in THB. If you're a retiree using your pension to live on here then yes, you're correct that it will have a negative impact on them. 

[Rocket Hawks]

18 hours ago, Lacessit said:

The coronavirus fatalities are far worse than the Chinese authorities are admitting. Entire supply chains are being shut down as cities in China are in lockdown. It is not good news for anybody, with the possible exception of the medical industry.

Cornavirus has made my 25 year old wife a USD multimillionaire. She sells N-95 face masks for pollution online. She had 10 million N-95 Face masks in stock here in Thailand when the coronavirus hit. She completely sold out in under a week and now has an order for 100 million face masks. Face masks are now more valuable than gold and cannot be obtained anywhere on the planet in large supply.  She purchased the masks from China last year for 1 baht each. She sold them all here in Thailand for between 50 and 500 baht a pop. She can literally retire in any country on Earth at the age of 25 because of the coronavirus. I now have to be careful and extra nice to her so she doesn’t leave me for a younger boy toy ????

[digger70]

18 hours ago, webfact said:

Coronavirus outbreak has turned Asia’s best-performing currency into one of the worst

Yen Nee Lee

This is just Fake News.I will believe it when I See the THB drop an other 30% for to be back at the 2012 level. Compere the loss of e couple % against 2019 means nothing . just looked at rate and the THB is going up again against the AUS $    

[Assurancetourix]

1 minute ago, BobbyL said:

Anyway, my point stands for people earning good salaries in THB. If you're a retiree using your pension to live on here then yes, you're correct that it will have a negative impact on them. 

 

I am indeed in this case;
no way for me to leave 400,000 baht (Thai spouse visa) on a Thai bank account especially that in a few weeks, maybe months, the baht will only be worth its weight in paper ...

As in Germany in the early 20s, ...................well there is just a century ..
So I live here on my retirement which is transferred monthly to my Thai bank account;
if the baht explodes until it becomes nothing, an email to my French bank asking them to suspend the permanent transfer.

I live in the countryside, we can live almost in autarky for long weeks,  even months;
even if there are no more GOs in the tanks of service stations, I will still have my MTBike ...

 

I don't worry about my neighbors; they have always known how to live with almost nothing, they will know how to continue ...
however it will be very difficult for those who are over-indebted

[Assurancetourix]

9 minutes ago, Rocket Hawks said:

I now have to be careful and extra nice to her so she doesn’t leave me for a younger boy toy 

It's nice to dream;
the only problem is waking up ..
it reminds me of the guy falling from a skyscraper; he arrived at the 43rd floor and thought to himself: "so far, everything is fine"

[spidermike007]

Tourism revenue from China accounts or 2.7% of GDP here? That is complete nonsense. Estimates range from 13% to 22% of the total GDP of the Thai economy (about $530 billion in 2019) comes from tourism, and tourism related businesses, which are countless. And China now makes up for at least 27% of all arrivals. Anyone with common sense can do the numbers. 

 

And to think that the drop in tourism is only going to come from China? What hubris. The drop is going to be stunning. And it may benefit the ex-pat community enormously, in the long run, on so many levels.

 

I do feel bad for the Thai people struggling to earn a living from a decimated industry. But, in a sense they brought this on themselves, by supporting the hapless army, Prayuth, and his band of incompetents.

[tootall]

18 hours ago, Creasy said:

Huzzah !!

I got that- "Big Bang Theory" HAHA

[toofarnorth]

1 hour ago, 4MyEgo said:

Funny that, a mate of mine over here on holidays purchased a Rolex for around 20K back in the old country and as I was going back for a holiday in two weeks, he asked me if I could take it back for him and give it to him when I arrive.

 

He was scared of being pulled up as he didn't want to pay back the discount he got, i.e. 10% GST or something like that, I said, I would do it, all care taken but no responsibility on my part if lost, stolen or damaged, although I said I would keep it in my safe, he said it's insured, and he want me to wear it all the time, I said no way, not going to feel comfortable and don't want to get mugged, my way or the highway, he reluctantly said yes and I gave it back to him in the home country.

 

As for me ever buying a Rolex, could easily afford one, 2, 3 of them but my ego will never be that big, am happy with my 2,000 baht fitbiz ????

 

I bought a Rolex on my first visit here in 2004 , it actualy worked too.  The strap broke after a few weeks so I took to one of those places like you see in Sainsbury or Asda , can't remember the name and told the chap I needed a new strap for my Rolex. He said it is a fake ( God forbid ) if I sent this to Rolex they would smash it and send you the bits back !  I said " That's a bit harsh I paid 12 quid for it " .

[allenberg]

3 hours ago, jesimps said:

If I could predict what the forex market was going to do I'd be a fabulously rich man by now. I personally did transfer money when the baht was lower, but not because I was able to predict that the pound would go lower, but because I needed a house for my family and me. I did personally try forex trading for a while but got out quick when I lost a few bob and realised that it wasn't as easy I thought it was. One other thing, if you use the opinions of people on here to judge currency movements, you're doomed from the outset.

"if you use the opinions of people on here to judge currency movements, you're doomed from the outset. "

Absolutely, and well put!

[Bangkok Barry]

4 hours ago, saengd said:

Almost everybody in this thread seems to really enjoy being critical of Thailand and seeing the country get hurt or damaged as result of the virus, the baht, the economy, the government. I'm guessing none of you actually live in Thailand and that you're all just posting from bedsits in Morecambe or Bangor, if that's not the case and you actually live here, why are you still here if you dislike the place so much?

 

I think you misunderstand. What people who live in Thailand dislike so much is that the value of their income from overseas has plummeted - in my case by nearly 50 per cent since I first began to live here. Add to that the massive inflation in Thailand, where prices often increase by 10-20 per cent at a time when the norm in most other countries is 1-2 per cent, it starts to get nasty. So if the value of the currency falls back again, largely due to the idiotic policy of sucking up to the Chinese (remember, many Thais have Chinese background) and discouraging everyone else, I really have no sympathy at all.

 

So it has nothing to do with disliking the place, as you suggest. It has a lot to do with Thailand offering third world goods and services at what are now first world prices. As for the old chestnut of why are you still here (a variant of why don't you go back where you come from), many have family and roots in Thailand.

[Caldera]

That's about the only piece of good news about the virus that isn't fake.

[Millcx]

19 hours ago, khwaibah said:

CRASH BAHT CRASH.????????????

Oh Yeah

[mac1970]

19 hours ago, Lacessit said:

The coronavirus fatalities are far worse than the Chinese authorities are admitting. Entire supply chains are being shut down as cities in China are in lockdown. It is not good news for anybody, with the possible exception of the medical industry.

Don't worry, we will start on Monday as anyone else after extended holidays. Unless big X says otherwise. All goodies will flow to consumers once again. Power of capitalism cannot be stopped, not even coronavirus. 

[SuwadeeS]

It would be nice to see the exchange rates back at the old levels.

[Time to grow]

20 hours ago, webfact said:

The Thai currency has lost around 4.1% against the U.S. dollar so far this year, reversing almost half of its 7.9% gains against the greenback in 2019.

I am a little confused, this chart (https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/THBUSD/) of the THB/USD seems to show the opposite? Am I missing something or has the THB strengthened against the USD since new year started?

[RocketDog]

5 hours ago, saengd said:

Almost everybody in this thread seems to really enjoy being critical of Thailand and seeing the country get hurt or damaged as result of the virus, the baht, the economy, the government. I'm guessing none of you actually live in Thailand and that you're all just posting from bedsits in Morecambe or Bangor, if that's not the case and you actually live here, why are you still here if you dislike the place so much?

Simple. It's all about money once again, but this time my money.

 

The worse the economy gets the more cash is king so assuming you have Thai baht things get cheaper but the weather and food remain constants (at least for a while).  With The Cheeto in charge America will soon be a leading third world country anyway but I enjoy Thailand considerably more than Denver.

 

Now, I don't wish hardship on the Thai people but maybe this will prompt them to make changes in their governance and improve their lot. Mass discontent has   historically led to changes in leadership worldwide. As for the Thai government's pain goes, I'm not shedding any tears.

 

I converted some USD to baht a few days ago when it hit 31.195bht/$. I will consider doing so every time there is a decent change.

 

I'm one of those poor souls who thinks having baht in a Thai bank (where I live) is better than USD in an American Bank (where I don't live) .

 

With the Liar in Chief in charge now its unlikely I will ever return. I recently bought a villa here and invested in Thai real estate that I enjoy every day instead of USA real estate which is only an investment.

 

I'm slowly selling all my USA assets and converting to Sing dollars in a Singapore bank, metals in a Singapore vault, or Thai baht in a bank or Thai gold.

 

A great global economic unwinding is in the air.

Diversify.

[brianthainess]

20 hours ago, tonray said:

You mean cheaper than the 350 baht ones on Silom road ?

Buy 2 500 bt

[HHTel]

22 minutes ago, Time to grow said:

I am a little confused, this chart (https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/THBUSD/) of the THB/USD seems to show the opposite? Am I missing something or has the THB strengthened against the USD since new year started?

I think you're reading the figures upside down.  The THB has weakened against the dollar which is now over 31 baht and on track to weaken further.

[A Los for words]

14 hours ago, champers said:

The Baht has moved from 39 to 40 against the pound. I won't be dancing in the streets till it gets to 50. Hope I'm still around to see it.

Currency changes always have winners and losers. As someone who sends money back regularly, I've been grateful for the 20% rise in my salary in real terms and hope the rate stays below 40.

[khunPer]

21 hours ago, webfact said:

Coronavirus outbreak has turned Asia’s best-performing currency into one of the worst

Looking at the bright side of life, Coronavisrus is after all good for something...
(I know it's bad to joke about such a serious matter as health, but this time I couldn't resist, sorry.)

[Time to grow]

16 minutes ago, HHTel said:

I think you're reading the figures upside down.

Yes, I was. Thank you for clearing up my error.

[Expat Tom]

The Junta caught flack from the Western World during and after the coup. The leaders (AKA Mr. P, ) tried to cozy up the the Chinese and it bit them (him) in the ass. The Chinese are like a plague of locust. They will devour Thailand if given 1/2 the chance. BYW, in case of a real war those subs that Thailand bought from China would last about 30 minutes if Thailand sided with China and about 2 days outside of the Gulf of Siam if they sided with the West. Thailand needs subs like like a ladyboy needs a ,,,,,,? Fill in the blank. 

 

In case of a war, I would not want Thailand as an ally. They would either shoot themselves in the foot or accidentally shoot you in the back.

 

Don't cry for me....I live in Vietnam now.