1 Gbp = 47.37 Thb And Falling

[Merangue]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/finance...jor-rivals.html

With Britain officially in recession, how does the country stack up against other major world economies?

Britain: The economy was flat in second quarter, with 0pc growth, and shrank by 0.6pc in the third quarter. Official figures on Friday show it is now in recession after contracted by a bigger-than-expected 1.5pc in the final quarter of 2008. Unemployment stood at 6.1pc at the end of November.

United States: The US economy grew by 0.7pc in the second quarter and contracted by 0.1pc in the third quarter. Fourth-quarter numbers are expected to show the economy shrank by 1.2pc. Unemployment stood at 7.2pc in December.

Japan: The Japanese economy shrank by 1pc in the second quarter and by a further 0.5pc in the third quarter. The fourth quarter is forecast to show a 2.75pc decline as the country's export manufacturing industry suffered from the global downturn. Unemployment stood at 3.9pc in November.

China: The Chinese economy grew by 9pc, on an annual basis, in the third quarter and by 6.8pc in the fourth quarter. Forecasts for a 6.8pc rise for the year in 2009 could come under pressure as the markets for China's exports contract. Unemployment stood at 4pc at the end of December.

Germany: The German economy is already in recession, declining by 0.4pc in the second quarter and 0.5pc in the third quarter. Forecasts show it shrank by between 1.5pc and 2pc in the fourth quarter, as like Japan, manufacturing exports were badly hit. Unemployment stood at 7.6pc in December.

France: The French economy shrank by 0.3pc in the second quarter but recovered to rise 0.1pc in the third quarter. Economists estimate it shrank by 1pc in the final quarter. Unemployment stood at 7.3pc at the end of the third quarter in September.

All figures except Britain from BNP Paribas and Bloomberg.

Germany looks worse off than the UK to me. Not that i am any kind of expert but i would guess that the Euro is much harder to manipulate and therefore Germany will find it harder to claw its way out of a recession.

Edited January 23, 2009 by Merangue

[R123]

As i write(24/1) in just a week the pound has gone from about 51 to the baht to 46.

A fall of 10%.

May I ask if there are any experts here, or think they are, how low realistically could it fall?

Could it go to 30 baht to the pound; or 20 baht ......or even lower?

Any idea?

Many thanks.

Edited January 24, 2009 by R123

[binnsy]

IMHO i think it will hit 40 within 2 weeks.

Its going down quicker than a shorttimer in Pattaya

[12DrinkMore]

Differing exchange rates do not always affect the price to the end consumer. Look at all the foreign products in Big C and Tesco-Lotus. (HP sauce, dairy products from Australia/New Zealand?) You would have expected the price to decrease as the Supermarkets are obviously now paying less for them.

The Thai markets are not very efficient. I suspect that the importers are not passing the reduction on to the supermarkets, and I doubt that the volume of sales is so big that another importer will start up and offer lower prices. And if somebody tried that one they might very quickly have a phone call putting them in the picture about whose turf they are treading on....