Baht continues to slide as PM Srettha pushes big-spending capital program to boost foreign tourism

[webfact]

New international airport costing ฿80 billion to be built in Phang-nga province which is home to James Bond Island where key scenes from the 1974 movie The Man with the Golden Gun starring Roger Moore were filmed making it easier for tourists to travel there and transit to nearby provinces such as Phuket and Krabi which have all received infrastructure boosts.

The Prime Minister, over the weekend, was busy promoting the government capital programme to boost tourism with an expansion at Suvarnabhumi Airport and infrastructure upgrades in the southern provinces of Phuket, Krabi and Phang-nga with a new ฿80 billion international airport in the province. At the same time, as the baht continues to decline on money markets, the Bank of Thailand released data showing fewer tourists entered Thailand in August but they comprised more long-stay tourists from Japan, Germany and Australia who spent more.

Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin was on the trail south over the weekend promoting the kingdom’s tourism industry with announcements of infrastructure projects in the southern provinces including a ฿148 billion upgrade to tourism infrastructure on the island of Phuket located on the Andaman Sea.

 

Full story: Thai Examiner 2023-10-02

 

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[2baht]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

as the baht continues to decline on money markets,

Crash and burn! 

[hotchilli]

49 minutes ago, 2baht said:

Crash and burn! 

Keep going.

[redwood1]

Prime Minister Mr Smiley.....Forgot about taxing money coming into Thailand I guess...

[IAMHERE]

New airport for an already overcrowded destination.

[Bangkok Barry]

The baht is indeed sliding, and I'm ecstatic that yesterday I received 100 baht more when I did my usual monthly transfer from the UK than I did last month, and last month was 100 more than the month before. That 200 baht can buy me a beer in a decent bar - maybe 

[ChipButty]

Bank of Thailand released data showing fewer tourists entered Thailand in August but they comprised more long-stay tourists from Japan, Germany and Australia who spent more.

 

They forgot to mention the Russians who make up the bulk of long stays in Phuket

[ChrisY1]

It seems that tourism is the panacea to fix everything here.

Thai exports are tanking and seem to be going nowhere, regardless what is in the media....unemployment is reportedly the lowest and even new vehicle sales are falling globally.

Thailand still believes that the Chinese will save them!

[RichardColeman]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

At the same time, as the baht continues to decline on money markets,

They keep saying that , but in reality the baht is still 0.25 lower than the rate I sent it here last month !

 

Probably true against the dollar (as all currencies), but I would wait for that to come crashing down in years to come with the US debt mountain. Documentary yesterday on burgers reaching $15 at McD and ONE hash brown 2,99 !!!

 

 

[Venom]

Shouldn't it read to boost the money lining his friends and families pockets? ????

[redwood1]

2 minutes ago, ChrisY1 said:

It seems that tourism is the panacea to fix everything here.

Thai exports are tanking and seem to be going nowhere, regardless what is in the media....unemployment is reportedly the lowest and even new vehicle sales are falling globally.

Thailand still believes that the Chinese will save them!

Nothing to worry about folks.. EVs are going to save Thailand and the world....

[Srikcir]

1 hour ago, RichardColeman said:

US debt mountain

There is nothing wrong with having a national debt so long as it is serviced timely. Which is mandatory in the US Constitution. While the US has the world's biggest national debt in terms of dollar amount, it also has the largest economy.

That gives the US  a lot of economic leverage in international trade. The US dollar is the 10th strongest currency in the world, worth exactly 1 against itself. All other units of currency across the globe are worth less than a US dollar.

[mikebell]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

infrastructure upgrades

Like 2nd Road and Beach Road in Pattaya.  Every one is going nowhere fast here.

[RichardColeman]

10 minutes ago, Srikcir said:

There is nothing wrong with having a national debt so long as it is serviced timely.

But that's the point - it isn't being addressed at all ! Continual kicking of the can down the road for future is not servicing it. 

 

[Middle Aged Grouch]

1 €uro should give at least 45 THB if you want to boost tourism.

[SoilSpoil]

2 hours ago, IAMHERE said:

New airport for an already overcrowded destination.

Khao Lak is far from overcrowded.

[Emdog]

If they really wanted to improve tourist experience, they'd skip the "easy to skim" projects like airports, etc and get down to street level:

Sidewalks that are level, without iron bars sticking up, or low hanging wires

Deal with the trash everywhere.

Implement an effective foreign language program. Heck, bar girls speak better English than those with degrees from unis.

Police: need I say more?

 

But you all know that, and perhaps even wonder why I waste my fingers typing the obvious.

Coffee

[Walker88]

6 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

But that's the point - it isn't being addressed at all ! Continual kicking of the can down the road for future is not servicing it. 

 

No government debt of any nation is going to be repaid. Everyone buying bonds knows that. All they expect is that it be serviced, which means paying the due interest and returning capital upon maturity. Most debt is just rolled over, so maturity is just an accounting entry.

 

Debt service as a % of revenue is worst in what country?

 

Japan.

 

It's not even close. Even Greece looks solvent in comparison.

 

The US' advantage remains rule of law. Billions in capital can enter the markets or leave the markets with no difficulty. Can't do that in China. Dollar value is based not on something as meaningless as a metal, but rather the ambition and creativity of the people, who can then be taxed. Nixon realized that, so took the US off the gold standard. As others followed suit, the world saw an era where more people were lifted from poverty than at any time since Oldavai Gorge.

 

Money has always been a confidence game. Money only requires one side of a transaction to believe in it.

 

Will it all collapse one day? Probably, but folks have been predicting that for longer than most people have been alive. No point in preparing for that, because if the dollar or the world's financial system fails, humans return to the Hobbesian world of 'solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short', which is to say hardly worth living.

 

 

[fondue zoo]

2 minutes ago, Walker88 said:

since Oldavai Gorge

ouuo  that's a deep cut.    

[Cake Monster]

With Foreign Tourism only accounting for around 12 % of GDP, the Gov,t needs to boost Export Trade which accounts for nearly 30 % GDP

[khunjake]

PM to meet with the BOT governor today.  With such a strong push for Chinese tourism, its only sensible to get the BOT onboard with a weaker THB to catchup with the already weak RMB. 38-40 range USD/THB is what I’m aiming for…

[wwest5829]

2 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

The baht is indeed sliding, and I'm ecstatic that yesterday I received 100 baht more when I did my usual monthly transfer from the UK than I did last month, and last month was 100 more than the month before. That 200 baht can buy me a beer in a decent bar - maybe 

I did too on yesterday's Wise transfer, oh wait, it was not 100 baht, it was 100 USD difference so 3300 baht. And that amount I do feel in the monthly budget. I missed 36.86 and did the transfer at 36.52.

[Dogmatix]

The government's strategy to boost economic growth to its target of 5% next year seems to involve mainly promoting low end Chinese tourism and its digital wallet scheme. It will need a lot of Chinese tourists on zero dollar tours to counteract the increase in government debt caused by the digital wallet and other vote buying schemes as well as the initiative to drive high end foreign retirees out of the country through a remittance tax at 35% which will in turn impact the condo market.

[proton]

3 hours ago, redwood1 said:

Prime Minister Mr Smiley.....Forgot about taxing money coming into Thailand I guess...

He's an amateur only qualified to build pre fab concrete homes with no mandate to be PM from the public.

[KannikaP]

1 hour ago, Srikcir said:

All other units of currency across the globe are worth less than a US dollar.

What's that got to do with it. USD/GBP = 0.82, so what?

[ChipButty]

I think they need to be spending that money on improving what we already have, Improvements are greatly needed in the hospitality industry, the infrastructure, try pushing a buggy around then you see what I mean, 

The standards are very poor, food hygiene should be a priority, training should be given to staff, not pay the authorities to go away, shut the places down if they don't comply. 

I had my family here for a couple of weeks recently 5 in total they booked to stay in a 5 star hotel in Karon, the hotel was fine albeit only 5 rooms were booked out, they were really cutting back, the food on the breakfast buffet was bought from 7/11, I kid you not, 

One day the little one was hungry, my daughter was about to order a Hot Dog, my grand daughter is not 3 yet, I looked over at the menu and it was 350 baht ++, cancel that it's only for the baby, I'll walk across the road to 7/11, 

We tried to take them to different places to eat in the evening lots of food was left and sent back being poor quality or under cooked, I think my family would have struggled if they didn't have me or my wife with them. 

That two weeks opened my eyes the place has gone backwards, Lets not talk about the lack of English. 

[daveAustin]

3 hours ago, ChipButty said:

They forgot to mention the Russians who make up the bulk of long stays in Phuket

Who cares? They don't spend as much.

 

The baht is still 20-30% overpriced... hopefully with this perpetually smiling donkey at the helm, that real price will be realised sooner rather than later.  

[mokwit]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

comprised more long-stay tourists from Japan, Germany and Australia who spent more.

...but lets make it harder for them and easier for VE/VoA arrivals

[mokwit]

1 hour ago, SoilSpoil said:

Khao Lak is far from overcrowded.

They're working on that.

[lopburi3]

3 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

The baht is indeed sliding, and I'm ecstatic that yesterday I received 100 baht more when I did my usual monthly transfer from the UK than I did last month, and last month was 100 more than the month before. That 200 baht can buy me a beer in a decent bar - maybe 

You must not be sending much - I send $2,500 start of each month and today is 4,000 baht more than last month with same fees.