UK Pound Collapse 47.99 against the Baht

[LevelHead]

For those of you confused as to why the Baht is so strong and remains strong, let me offer an opinion.

Normally in Thailand the budget before the last year of power of a government is where rampant and massive corruption occurs.

Politicians need money to pay for the next election and therefore the final budget before the last year is where they get money spent on projects where their supporters have interests and so the money is fed back to the politicians.

Its like the retirement fund/new election campaign funds kitty.

This is why the Reds are doing their demo now, they too know this happens.

With regards to the baht, others also know this happens and so they pile money into investments into "Democrat / BJT / Coalition parties" companies, knowing that end of this year and early next year these companies will win lots of government tenders and work and have a great year.

This flow of funds into Thailand investing in these companies and associated investments is what is making the baht strong.

If the election is Q42 2011 then from June onwards next year the baht will plummet.

If the present government gets kicked out, the baht will also plummet.

If the present government remains in power the baht will remain strong, until the budget is over and then the companies associated with friends and family of the government win massive government business and then it will go down as an election nears.

With regards to the pound, it is "extra weak" presently due to uncertainty over the elections in the UK and the possibility of a hung parliament. Once the election is done then the pound will bounce a bit.

[yoshiwara]

For those of you confused as to why the Baht is so strong and remains strong, let me offer an opinion.

Normally in Thailand the budget before the last year of power of a government is where rampant and massive corruption occurs.

Politicians need money to pay for the next election and therefore the final budget before the last year is where they get money spent on projects where their supporters have interests and so the money is fed back to the politicians.

Its like the retirement fund/new election campaign funds kitty.

This is why the Reds are doing their demo now, they too know this happens.

With regards to the baht, others also know this happens and so they pile money into investments into "Democrat / BJT / Coalition parties" companies, knowing that end of this year and early next year these companies will win lots of government tenders and work and have a great year.

This flow of funds into Thailand investing in these companies and associated investments is what is making the baht strong.

If the election is Q42 2011 then from June onwards next year the baht will plummet.

If the present government gets kicked out, the baht will also plummet.

If the present government remains in power the baht will remain strong, until the budget is over and then the companies associated with friends and family of the government win massive government business and then it will go down as an election nears.

With regards to the pound, it is "extra weak" presently due to uncertainty over the elections in the UK and the possibility of a hung parliament. Once the election is done then the pound will bounce a bit.

Of course no figures produced.

Just speculative drivel apart from drawing upon his hero Thaksin for inspiration re rampant and massive corruption occurs

Where the purpose, of course, is to offset this.

Draw attention away from Thaksin.

That is your job.

[LevelHead]

For those of you confused as to why the Baht is so strong and remains strong, let me offer an opinion.

Normally in Thailand the budget before the last year of power of a government is where rampant and massive corruption occurs.

Politicians need money to pay for the next election and therefore the final budget before the last year is where they get money spent on projects where their supporters have interests and so the money is fed back to the politicians.

Its like the retirement fund/new election campaign funds kitty.

This is why the Reds are doing their demo now, they too know this happens.

With regards to the baht, others also know this happens and so they pile money into investments into "Democrat / BJT / Coalition parties" companies, knowing that end of this year and early next year these companies will win lots of government tenders and work and have a great year.

This flow of funds into Thailand investing in these companies and associated investments is what is making the baht strong.

If the election is Q42 2011 then from June onwards next year the baht will plummet.

If the present government gets kicked out, the baht will also plummet.

If the present government remains in power the baht will remain strong, until the budget is over and then the companies associated with friends and family of the government win massive government business and then it will go down as an election nears.

With regards to the pound, it is "extra weak" presently due to uncertainty over the elections in the UK and the possibility of a hung parliament. Once the election is done then the pound will bounce a bit.

Of course no figures produced.

Just speculative drivel apart from drawing upon his hero Thaksin for inspiration re rampant and massive corruption occurs

Where the purpose, of course, is to offset this.

Draw attention away from Thaksin.

That is your job.

If you do not know about the "last budget before the final year before the elections" in Thailand then you seriously know nothing about how the system works.

Democrat / BJT and Coalition MP's will now be pushing their "pet" projects to ensure in the budget that lots of money is allocated to projects, which of course their friends and families and supporters businesses will win.

They are all now trying their best to ensure they have the maximum funds for their election campaign, which will be used to "buy victory".

Why do you think they are hanging on and not dissolving the house taking in the mess in the country, the deaths and everything else.

This is most normal for all Thai governments, regardless of color, and its why the Reds now are trying to make it most difficult for the Coalition parties who must hang on regardless to ensure they get to set the budget (and therefore the projects) that will "feed" them in 2011 and their election campaigns.

[lannarebirth]

For those of you confused as to why the Baht is so strong and remains strong, let me offer an opinion.

Normally in Thailand the budget before the last year of power of a government is where rampant and massive corruption occurs.

Politicians need money to pay for the next election and therefore the final budget before the last year is where they get money spent on projects where their supporters have interests and so the money is fed back to the politicians.

Its like the retirement fund/new election campaign funds kitty.

This is why the Reds are doing their demo now, they too know this happens.

With regards to the baht, others also know this happens and so they pile money into investments into "Democrat / BJT / Coalition parties" companies, knowing that end of this year and early next year these companies will win lots of government tenders and work and have a great year.

This flow of funds into Thailand investing in these companies and associated investments is what is making the baht strong.

If the election is Q42 2011 then from June onwards next year the baht will plummet.

If the present government gets kicked out, the baht will also plummet.

If the present government remains in power the baht will remain strong, until the budget is over and then the companies associated with friends and family of the government win massive government business and then it will go down as an election nears.

With regards to the pound, it is "extra weak" presently due to uncertainty over the elections in the UK and the possibility of a hung parliament. Once the election is done then the pound will bounce a bit.

Of course no figures produced.

Just speculative drivel apart from drawing upon his hero Thaksin for inspiration re rampant and massive corruption occurs

Where the purpose, of course, is to offset this.

Draw attention away from Thaksin.

That is your job.

If you do not know about the "last budget before the final year before the elections" in Thailand then you seriously know nothing about how the system works.

Democrat / BJT and Coalition MP's will now be pushing their "pet" projects to ensure in the budget that lots of money is allocated to projects, which of course their friends and families and supporters businesses will win.

They are all now trying their best to ensure they have the maximum funds for their election campaign, which will be used to "buy victory".

Why do you think they are hanging on and not dissolving the house taking in the mess in the country, the deaths and everything else.

This is most normal for all Thai governments, regardless of color, and its why the Reds now are trying to make it most difficult for the Coalition parties who must hang on regardless to ensure they get to set the budget (and therefore the projects) that will "feed" them in 2011 and their election campaigns.

I find your posts on the political threads total crap, but these posts seem quite plausible and not at all hard to believe, thanks.

[OriginalPoster]

Clothes like t-shirts & cheap day wear can be got in Uk much cheaper & better quality than Thailand.

Thailand is not nearly as cheap as people think imo.

The key to living cheaply in Thailand is to downgrade your expectations for quality & comfort.

[galvheim]

Have you guys any clue as to why the pound has been so strong in the past? Well, som clues may lie historically in UK being a cluster of other countries (empire) that they had control over. They lost all most of this in eventually. But the biggest clue I would say is the oil. The UK was once a big oil exporter, and thus made a lot of money, without having to pay for importing this. The UK, as Norway has essentially been driving forward the last 40-50 years on this commodity. Now its running short. More and more people are working to demolish the oil-rigs in the North Sea and the amount that they are able to extract today is much more expensive to purify. So now a the energy ratio per barrel of oil is much lower than it previously has been. Also the demand for oil has been steadily increasing during that period and it has been a prime source of wealth, keeping the pound strong. Now this is not the case anymore. Baby-boomers are ahead, craving their pensions and on top of this is a lot of people who never saw this going to happen and took big loans that they are not able to pay back. The UK is full of people just paying debt on kredit and thus not really supporting the economy in a fruitful way, to say it simple. The salaries have not risen in the tempo seen in the 80s and 90s and have leveled out despite of prices rising all around them. This is also due to oil extraction not meeting the demand for the same growth we saw before, thus pushin up prices. Especially on food this has been evident, since more of the food is being used for making ethanol and for bio-diesel.

Thailand not have this problem in the same way, since there are no baby-boomers eating up all their excess money. They have, like China, a lot of cheap labour, so they will still be able to produce things for export and be competitive in the destination markets. For us coming from the west, we have lived well on oil for a long time, but when this is running low, we still have the same cost of living so even if we wanted there would not be easy to do labour intensive work and hope to be competitive against countries here in Asia with their huge populations. Of course this is not always true, but I think it has a great deal to say as to why we are seing a steady downfall of the west and the economy there.

Luckily Norway still have a few more years of extracting oil in the North sea. We have still not started to extract oil from the northern parts of Norway since this has been a political problem due to the environment. But with the incrementalism put on by the government and the shortsight of people they are opening this slowly and steadily. We also have a lot of natural gas to offer, and expect the price of this to rise as the price of oil rises withing the next years. The baby-boomers are still coming and will eat up our saving money in just a few years. But since we only have a population of around 5 million people there is still hope that we can live and travel with a strong Krone against most other currencies. I just transferred 10'000 NOK to my BKK account and got around 55'500 THB. Thats around half of a normal monthly salary after TAX of 36% in Norway, for my profession as an onshore scaffolder. So it's still nice to be Norwegian in Thailand, allthough I would be happy if it could go up to 2007 levels of around 1 NOK = 6.5 THB

[Chaimai]

Clothes like t-shirts & cheap day wear can be got in Uk much cheaper & better quality than Thailand.

Thailand is not nearly as cheap as people think imo.

The key to living cheaply in Thailand is to downgrade your expectations for quality & comfort.

I would say if you have high expectations of quality and comfort - don't come to Thailand.

[jayboy]

Of course no figures produced.

Just speculative drivel apart from drawing upon his hero Thaksin for inspiration re rampant and massive corruption occurs

Where the purpose, of course, is to offset this.

Draw attention away from Thaksin.

That is your job.

In Charles Dickens' masterpiece ,David Copperfield, there is a memorable character called Mr Dick (sic).He is an amiable enough cove, in fact quite lovable, but clearly one sandwich short of a picnic or "mai tembart" as they say in these parts.His memorable characteristic is to be obsessed with King Charles' head which he manages to bring into conversations where the subject clearly has no place at all.I thought on this thread we were discussing the UK pound's prospects but here amazingly is Yoshiwara with his particular version of King Charles' head, namely an obsession with the great Satan himself -Thaksin, the Dark Lord.Quite what this has to do with currency movements is a matter for us to wonder at.

[yoshiwara]

Of course no figures produced.

Just speculative drivel apart from drawing upon his hero Thaksin for inspiration re rampant and massive corruption occurs

Where the purpose, of course, is to offset this.

Draw attention away from Thaksin.

That is your job.

In Charles Dickens' masterpiece ,David Copperfield, there is a memorable character called Mr Dick (sic).He is an amiable enough cove, in fact quite lovable, but clearly one sandwich short of a picnic or "mai tembart" as they say in these parts.His memorable characteristic is to be obsessed with King Charles' head which he manages to bring into conversations where the subject clearly has no place at all.I thought on this thread we were discussing the UK pound's prospects but here amazingly is Yoshiwara with his particular version of King Charles' head, namely an obsession with the great Satan himself -Thaksin, the Dark Lord.Quite what this has to do with currency movements is a matter for us to wonder at.

No doubt that you prefer nobody responds to your comrade-in-arms Mr Head who introduced the concept of corruption as a lead factor in the movement of the baht.

Primarily to counter the idea that the Thai economy is doing so well without your mentor.

You as well as he like to slip in accusations against the current governments as a strategic balance to even out the convictions of the criminal Thaksin.

That mr head's hoo-haa ends up in discussion of the baht is about par for the course.

Looking for any corner to burnish the image of Thaksin.

That Thaksin would end up as Charles I in 1649 one can only hope for.

[jayboy]

That Thaksin would end up as Charles I in 1649 one can only hope for.

Charles 1(aka the Martyr) was executed in 1649 as you suggest.The Restoration took place in 1660 when his son acceded to the English throne.The regicides' bodies, including that of Oliver Cromwell, were dug up and then drawn and quartered.Cromwell's head was stuck on a pike.Since then the monarchy in England has never been seriously challenged.And the relevance to your unpleasant little assasination fantasy? To destroy someone, they need to be ridiculed,marginalised or ignored.Heaven knows there was much to ridicule in Thaksin.You do not thrust martyrdom on them because like Charles 1 and the Stuart dynasty it just strengthens what they stand for.Is that what you want for Thaksin and his legacy?

Frankly I didn't find your post at all coherent so forgive me if I don't respond in detail.With respect your opinion (and for that matter mine) don't matter in the scheme of things.You are of interest only because of your obsessive and unhinged preoccupation with Thaksin almost to a comical degree, and to some extent this also can be seen in some sections of the Thai elite.It's foolish and intellectually bankrupt because it confuses a symptom with a cause.Thaksin was a wily and immoral opportunist but for every opportunist there has to be an opportunity.Thaksin's chance was the elite's greed, sense of entitlement and selfishness.Without that fertile ground Thaksin would have been just another politician.So by all means attack Thaksin but don't overlook the greater crime.

Edited April 29, 2010 by jayboy

[schmutzie]

Well, I for one am spooked that the GBP is actually dropping again. I understand it's election time, UK economy not good overall.

Yet, I'm in a country where there is emergency law, grenades dropped every other day, army on the streets, and the central shopping district of the capitol is on lockdown.

Call me a cynic, but I would have expected at least to benefit slightly on the exchange rate front from the current troubles.

I guess it doesn't work that way. Shows how little I know.

Am still dropping a lump of quid into my Thai account (48-something is still better than 47-something) to take me through the UK post-election months when hopefully there'll be some optimism going forward.

The last thought in the back of my head before sleep? 55 in december...55 in december...Zzzz

Edited April 29, 2010 by schmutzie

[yoshiwara]

That Thaksin would end up as Charles I in 1649 one can only hope for.

Charles 1(aka the Martyr) was executed in 1649 as you suggest.The Restoration took place in 1660 when his son acceded to the English throne.The regicides' bodies, including that of Oliver Cromwell, were dug up and then drawn and quartered.Cromwell's head was stuck on a pike.Since then the monarchy in England has never been seriously challenged.And the relevance to your unpleasant little assasination fantasy? To destroy someone, they need to be ridiculed,marginalised or ignored.Heaven knows there was much to ridicule in Thaksin.You do not thrust martyrdom on them because like Charles 1 and the Stuart dynasty it just strengthens what they stand for.Is that what you want for Thaksin and his legacy?

Frankly I didn't find your post at all coherent so forgive me if I don't respond in detail.With respect your opinion (and for that matter mine) don't matter in the scheme of things.You are of interest only because of your obsessive and unhinged preoccupation with Thaksin almost to a comical degree, and to some extent this also can be seen in some sections of the Thai elite.It's foolish and intellectually bankrupt because it confuses a symptom with a cause.Thaksin was a wily and immoral opportunist but for every opportunist there has to be an opportunity.Thaksin's chance was the elite's greed, sense of entitlement and selfishness.Without that fertile ground Thaksin would have been just another politician.So by all means attack Thaksin but don't overlook the greater crime.

Blah-blah.

As far as this conflict is concerned, Thaksin is the cause, the reds are the symptom and you are the fig-leaf.

Baht's doing well today. Another day without Thaksin.

Edited April 29, 2010 by yoshiwara

[souvenirdeparis]

YIPPEE

Good news for me - I'm going to the UK this month.

Also, when I send money home to my mother, she gets more.

It isn't too bad for the pensioners - it was only 37 baht to the pound when I first came here in 1992.

It might make a few of the undesirable stay away from here, or go back too.

Your post is total rubbish.

Back in the early 90s the cost of living in Thailand was less than a quarter compared with today`s prices and Thai bank interest rates reached a high of 13%. Plus only 150000 baht was required for a one year Non Immigrant visa.

With an amount of 1 million baht in the bank, you could very comfortably live on the interest without tapping into the capital or need to bring over more money.

Things have changed dramatically and it`s going to be financially down hill from now on.

I was there and I entirely agree ; I remember I used to feel rich then -whatever that feeling could be, I have forgotten be it in France or Thailand .

[Oberkommando]

Frankly I didn't find your post at all coherent so forgive me if I don't respond in detail.With respect your opinion (and for that matter mine) don't matter in the scheme of things.You are of interest only because of your obsessive and unhinged preoccupation with Thaksin almost to a comical degree, and to some extent this also can be seen in some sections of the Thai elite.It's foolish and intellectually bankrupt because it confuses a symptom with a cause.Thaksin was a wily and immoral opportunist but for every opportunist there has to be an opportunity.Thaksin's chance was the elite's greed, sense of entitlement and selfishness.Without that fertile ground Thaksin would have been just another politician.So by all means attack Thaksin but don't overlook the greater crime.

That is how you own someone on the internet people. Watch and learn.

[mommysboy]

Well, I for one am spooked that the GBP is actually dropping again. I understand it's election time, UK economy not good overall.

Yet, I'm in a country where there is emergency law, grenades dropped every other day, army on the streets, and the central shopping district of the capitol is on lockdown.

Call me a cynic, but I would have expected at least to benefit slightly on the exchange rate front from the current troubles.

I guess it doesn't work that way. Shows how little I know.

Am still dropping a lump of quid into my Thai account (48-something is still better than 47-something) to take me through the UK post-election months when hopefully there'll be some optimism going forward.

The last thought in the back of my head before sleep? 55 in december...55 in december...Zzzz

One major factor already mentioned is just the general inflow of capital in to Asia, probably just short term. And then the general weakness of the Euro. UK seems reasonably well off compared to some of the crackpot economies, but is suffering from fears over sovereign debt. No one has adequately explaned why baht is outperforming other Asian currencies though.

It does seem a case that Thailand can do no wrong, whereas Blighty is still under the cosh. Life is full of irony, UK is shaping up better than first thought too.

[paully]

UK is shaping up better than first thought too.

Well, yes, compared to Greece...

[Gambles]

I will say again the pound is deliberate being kept down to boost trade,

research shows that direct intervention in major liquid currencie is generally somewhere between effective for a very short term of between 1-2 weeks and totally useless

[Gambles]

For those of you confused as to why the Baht is so strong and remains strong, let me offer an opinion.

Normally in Thailand the budget before the last year of power of a government is where rampant and massive corruption occurs.

Politicians need money to pay for the next election and therefore the final budget before the last year is where they get money spent on projects where their supporters have interests and so the money is fed back to the politicians.

Its like the retirement fund/new election campaign funds kitty.

This is why the Reds are doing their demo now, they too know this happens.

With regards to the baht, others also know this happens and so they pile money into investments into "Democrat / BJT / Coalition parties" companies, knowing that end of this year and early next year these companies will win lots of government tenders and work and have a great year.

This flow of funds into Thailand investing in these companies and associated investments is what is making the baht strong.

If the election is Q42 2011 then from June onwards next year the baht will plummet.

If the present government gets kicked out, the baht will also plummet.

If the present government remains in power the baht will remain strong, until the budget is over and then the companies associated with friends and family of the government win massive government business and then it will go down as an election nears.

With regards to the pound, it is "extra weak" presently due to uncertainty over the elections in the UK and the possibility of a hung parliament. Once the election is done then the pound will bounce a bit.

Of course no figures produced.

Just speculative drivel apart from drawing upon his hero Thaksin for inspiration re rampant and massive corruption occurs

Where the purpose, of course, is to offset this.

Draw attention away from Thaksin.

That is your job.

If you do not know about the "last budget before the final year before the elections" in Thailand then you seriously know nothing about how the system works.

Democrat / BJT and Coalition MP's will now be pushing their "pet" projects to ensure in the budget that lots of money is allocated to projects, which of course their friends and families and supporters businesses will win.

They are all now trying their best to ensure they have the maximum funds for their election campaign, which will be used to "buy victory".

Why do you think they are hanging on and not dissolving the house taking in the mess in the country, the deaths and everything else.

This is most normal for all Thai governments, regardless of color, and its why the Reds now are trying to make it most difficult for the Coalition parties who must hang on regardless to ensure they get to set the budget (and therefore the projects) that will "feed" them in 2011 and their election campaigns.

the final year before elections?? but only one recent government has ever run full term hasn't it?

Nice theory and some good empirical observations but this needs much more work doing on it

[Gambles]

Have you guys any clue as to why the pound has been so strong in the past? Well, som clues may lie historically in UK being a cluster of other countries (empire) that they had control over. They lost all most of this in eventually. But the biggest clue I would say is the oil. The UK was once a big oil exporter, and thus made a lot of money, without having to pay for importing this. The UK, as Norway has essentially been driving forward the last 40-50 years on this commodity. Now its running short. More and more people are working to demolish the oil-rigs in the North Sea and the amount that they are able to extract today is much more expensive to purify. So now a the energy ratio per barrel of oil is much lower than it previously has been. Also the demand for oil has been steadily increasing during that period and it has been a prime source of wealth, keeping the pound strong. Now this is not the case anymore. Baby-boomers are ahead, craving their pensions and on top of this is a lot of people who never saw this going to happen and took big loans that they are not able to pay back. The UK is full of people just paying debt on kredit and thus not really supporting the economy in a fruitful way, to say it simple. The salaries have not risen in the tempo seen in the 80s and 90s and have leveled out despite of prices rising all around them. This is also due to oil extraction not meeting the demand for the same growth we saw before, thus pushin up prices. Especially on food this has been evident, since more of the food is being used for making ethanol and for bio-diesel.

Thailand not have this problem in the same way, since there are no baby-boomers eating up all their excess money. They have, like China, a lot of cheap labour, so they will still be able to produce things for export and be competitive in the destination markets. For us coming from the west, we have lived well on oil for a long time, but when this is running low, we still have the same cost of living so even if we wanted there would not be easy to do labour intensive work and hope to be competitive against countries here in Asia with their huge populations. Of course this is not always true, but I think it has a great deal to say as to why we are seing a steady downfall of the west and the economy there.

Luckily Norway still have a few more years of extracting oil in the North sea. We have still not started to extract oil from the northern parts of Norway since this has been a political problem due to the environment. But with the incrementalism put on by the government and the shortsight of people they are opening this slowly and steadily. We also have a lot of natural gas to offer, and expect the price of this to rise as the price of oil rises withing the next years. The baby-boomers are still coming and will eat up our saving money in just a few years. But since we only have a population of around 5 million people there is still hope that we can live and travel with a strong Krone against most other currencies. I just transferred 10'000 NOK to my BKK account and got around 55'500 THB. Thats around half of a normal monthly salary after TAX of 36% in Norway, for my profession as an onshore scaffolder. So it's still nice to be Norwegian in Thailand, allthough I would be happy if it could go up to 2007 levels of around 1 NOK = 6.5 THB

Nothing really to do with oil. The UK was both the hub of the biggest global empire and also the global financial centre - this all changed in the last 100 years - WWI being probably the pivotal moment .

[Gambles]

Well, I for one am spooked that the GBP is actually dropping again. I understand it's election time, UK economy not good overall.

Yet, I'm in a country where there is emergency law, grenades dropped every other day, army on the streets, and the central shopping district of the capitol is on lockdown.

Call me a cynic, but I would have expected at least to benefit slightly on the exchange rate front from the current troubles.

I guess it doesn't work that way. Shows how little I know.

Am still dropping a lump of quid into my Thai account (48-something is still better than 47-something) to take me through the UK post-election months when hopefully there'll be some optimism going forward.

The last thought in the back of my head before sleep? 55 in december...55 in december...Zzzz

One major factor already mentioned is just the general inflow of capital in to Asia, probably just short term. And then the general weakness of the Euro. UK seems reasonably well off compared to some of the crackpot economies, but is suffering from fears over sovereign debt. No one has adequately explaned why baht is outperforming other Asian currencies though.

It does seem a case that Thailand can do no wrong, whereas Blighty is still under the cosh. Life is full of irony, UK is shaping up better than first thought too.

Baht is undeperforming Asean currencies. If the troubles go away THB could strengthen by 10% against GBP reasonably quickly JUST to catch up the political risk premium that's been priced in

45 may be more likely than 55 if a peaceful end to the troubles comes about

[BigWheelMan]

YIPPEE

Good news for me - I'm going to the UK this month.

Also, when I send money home to my mother, she gets more.

It isn't too bad for the pensioners - it was only 37 baht to the pound when I first came here in 1992.

It might make a few of the undesirable stay away from here, or go back too.

Yes, but in 1992 the cost of living in Thailand was less than 25% compared with today’s expenditure costs, plus the banks were paying up to 13% interest on savings.

For 1 million baht in a bank here at 13% interested, you could live on that without tapping into the capital and I mean live well on that money.

I’m afraid this time round the economy is not only going to affect undesirables but also hit even good, honest decent folk like yourself, which it seems has already happened because you are having to return back to your home country.

Good luck and hoping your situation will improve soon, so you can come back.

[mommysboy]

Baht underperforming Asean currencies!!!!!!

Big Eh What?

[MJP]

Well, I for one am spooked that the GBP is actually dropping again. I understand it's election time, UK economy not good overall.

Yet, I'm in a country where there is emergency law, grenades dropped every other day, army on the streets, and the central shopping district of the capitol is on lockdown.

Call me a cynic, but I would have expected at least to benefit slightly on the exchange rate front from the current troubles.

I guess it doesn't work that way. Shows how little I know.

Am still dropping a lump of quid into my Thai account (48-something is still better than 47-something) to take me through the UK post-election months when hopefully there'll be some optimism going forward.

The last thought in the back of my head before sleep? 55 in december...55 in december...Zzzz

One major factor already mentioned is just the general inflow of capital in to Asia, probably just short term. And then the general weakness of the Euro. UK seems reasonably well off compared to some of the crackpot economies, but is suffering from fears over sovereign debt. No one has adequately explaned why baht is outperforming other Asian currencies though.

It does seem a case that Thailand can do no wrong, whereas Blighty is still under the cosh. Life is full of irony, UK is shaping up better than first thought too.

Baht is undeperforming Asean currencies. If the troubles go away THB could strengthen by 10% against GBP reasonably quickly JUST to catch up the political risk premium that's been priced in

45 may be more likely than 55 if a peaceful end to the troubles comes about

Anything could happen really. Does it matter anymore? I would imagine for quite a few, me included, it's not so much a weak quid but sources of income, i.e., work, drying up to zero.

Beyond May the 6th should give us a better idea of where it's going and how fast.

[Gambles]

Baht underperforming Asean currencies!!!!!!

Big Eh What?

I can't manage to either copy or upload an emf file - if someone who knows how to can email or pm me I'll send the charts for them to add.....

[thaibeachlovers]

Baht hit 49 yesterday. I'm gutted because I just converted 600 quid at 48.6. Never thought I'd think 49 was a good deal!

[OxfordWill]

Just think what you could have spent the extra 300 baht on.

[chiang mai]

Well, I for one am spooked that the GBP is actually dropping again. I understand it's election time, UK economy not good overall.

Yet, I'm in a country where there is emergency law, grenades dropped every other day, army on the streets, and the central shopping district of the capitol is on lockdown.

Call me a cynic, but I would have expected at least to benefit slightly on the exchange rate front from the current troubles.

I guess it doesn't work that way. Shows how little I know.

Am still dropping a lump of quid into my Thai account (48-something is still better than 47-something) to take me through the UK post-election months when hopefully there'll be some optimism going forward.

The last thought in the back of my head before sleep? 55 in december...55 in december...Zzzz

One major factor already mentioned is just the general inflow of capital in to Asia, probably just short term. And then the general weakness of the Euro. UK seems reasonably well off compared to some of the crackpot economies, but is suffering from fears over sovereign debt. No one has adequately explaned why baht is outperforming other Asian currencies though.

It does seem a case that Thailand can do no wrong, whereas Blighty is still under the cosh. Life is full of irony, UK is shaping up better than first thought too.

Baht is undeperforming Asean currencies. If the troubles go away THB could strengthen by 10% against GBP reasonably quickly JUST to catch up the political risk premium that's been priced in

45 may be more likely than 55 if a peaceful end to the troubles comes about

True, as a consequence I'm pleased with my SGD purchase, proxy or not it has a use.

[mommysboy]

Well, I for one am spooked that the GBP is actually dropping again. I understand it's election time, UK economy not good overall.

Yet, I'm in a country where there is emergency law, grenades dropped every other day, army on the streets, and the central shopping district of the capitol is on lockdown.

Call me a cynic, but I would have expected at least to benefit slightly on the exchange rate front from the current troubles.

I guess it doesn't work that way. Shows how little I know.

Am still dropping a lump of quid into my Thai account (48-something is still better than 47-something) to take me through the UK post-election months when hopefully there'll be some optimism going forward.

The last thought in the back of my head before sleep? 55 in december...55 in december...Zzzz

One major factor already mentioned is just the general inflow of capital in to Asia, probably just short term. And then the general weakness of the Euro. UK seems reasonably well off compared to some of the crackpot economies, but is suffering from fears over sovereign debt. No one has adequately explaned why baht is outperforming other Asian currencies though.

It does seem a case that Thailand can do no wrong, whereas Blighty is still under the cosh. Life is full of irony, UK is shaping up better than first thought too.

Baht is undeperforming Asean currencies. If the troubles go away THB could strengthen by 10% against GBP reasonably quickly JUST to catch up the political risk premium that's been priced in

45 may be more likely than 55 if a peaceful end to the troubles comes about

True, as a consequence I'm pleased with my SGD purchase, proxy or not it has a use.

ifs and buts, pots and pans!

[mommysboy]

Baht underperforming Asean currencies!!!!!!

Big Eh What?

I can't manage to either copy or upload an emf file - if someone who knows how to can email or pm me I'll send the charts for them to add.....

What time scale?. I can imagine over 1 month that may be the case but over a year surely the reverse is true.

[Gambles]

True, as a consequence I'm pleased with my SGD purchase, proxy or not it has a use.

Absolutely !!