Thb V Gbp Exchange Rate Approaches 50:1

[SantiSuk]

This is a heads up to say that the GBP exchange rate is doing one of its forrays back towards 50 baht to the pound as I write. 49.65 TT rate on BKK's website this evening, having spurted about 0.4 over the last 2 days.

These days it does not often break 50 - last time was last year (earlier this year it reached just under 50 then sank again - a few people responding negatively to my similar post back then must have missed out) and for the last 3 years it has gone above 50 only a handful of times and has not stayed above 50 for very long.

This time might be different of course. The UK is thought to be showing signs of coming out of recession and Asia Pac is under a bit of a Chinese cloud at the moment, which may explain its mini-spurt (day forex traders are probably laughing right now at my lack of forex understanding!). Another factory-flooding season could push the rate much higher. However, if you are like me you will take this opportunity to bring over quite a few months of forward spending cover - I just did 7 grand myself; being happy that you got a rate that is better than you expected is a much better feeling than missing out when the rate sinks back down. That compensates for the occasional time when it really accelerates after you have acted (which has not happened to me in my 5 years living here .... yet).

Others will say who cares whetrher its 50 or 48.5? I agree the amounts are not huge, but every little helps.

[SantiSuk]

Sorry about the shorthand. `BKKs website` - I mean Bangkok Bank`s website forex rates page:

http://www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBank/WebServices/Rates/Pages/FX_Rates.aspx

You will get their TT rate if you transfer GBP into an account with BKK Bank here (but there will be Thai charges - probably about 800 baht on the aforementioned 7,000 quid)

Edited September 13, 2012 by SantiSuk

[Pib]

In terms of charges on the receiving Thai bank end the charges should be approx 0.25% (200 baht min, 500 baht max) of received amount.

[davejones]

The help given to the Euro is helping strengthen both the EUR and GBP. Could go a fair bit higher, but you can never tell. Got all my cash here for the next year, so I don't need to exchange money anytime soon.