Baht Strengthens After No Measures Applied To Curb Currency Rise

[Naam]

It is time to devalue the baht. Bring it down to where it was 30 years ago.

Thailand is known to be a cheap destination. Tourists and expats come here for easy and affordable living. A strong baht will turn people off.

30 years ago it was 25bht to the USD.

30 years ago (1983) it was 20 Baht to the Dollar. from november1984 on 25 Baht to the Dollar till june 1997. the rest is well known.

[ableguy]

I'm going to USA for 6 months in a few weeks time, so this is great news for me.

Just leave your Thai Baht here will be worth more when you come back.

[ableguy]

It is time to devalue the baht. Bring it down to where it was 30 years ago.

Thailand is known to be a cheap destination. Tourists and expats come here for easy and affordable living. A strong baht will turn people off.

Tourism accounts for a small fraction of the GDP. Perhaps good for you, but other sectors of the economy are benefiting. Energy is one of the largest costs for Thailand and the strong baht has provided much needed relief for the manufacturing and petrochemical sector. This has also allowed some manufacturers to purchase heavy equipment that is foreign sourced. The Thai air transport sector is getting a much needed helping hand in respect to fuel and equipment purchases.

I find it surprising that so many TVF capitalists and proponents of free markets now want intervention ala socialist or liberal finance policies.

The baht will adjust downwards on its own. There is no need for intervention at this time.

You forget the rice and food exporters,no problem, rotten rice and toxic seafood (prohibited in EU) didn't need to be exported. Vietnam has better quality.

GDP 11 %

[ripstanley]

i used to get 16 baht to the OZ dollar and now its much better

bought bahts at 32

then put it in Thai funds

win win

Thailand says it wont interfere with the baht until it breaches 27 to the USD

If they lower the baht then exports improve - win win on the funds again

i hope

What year did you get 16 baht to the Aus Dollar?

[Skywalker69]

ridiculous ...... at least the very high bath is profitable for those investing abroad such as big companies like CP for example.

Also for rich Thais shopping abroad.

[Locationthailand]

Let it ride. If we live here we can't do much about it and I would say most of the expats here who whinge about it are being paid in offshore currencies. Work for Baht, get paid in Baht, pay for everything in Baht - makes no difference to me ... At least Thailand is not printing monopoly money to pay its debts like the so called reserve currency morons.

[lemoncake]

all i can say is everything that goes up, comes down and the bigger it is the harder it falls.

personally earning baht i prefer its strong, but for the business i prefer its weaker as weaker baht brings more tourists and they spend more

[dighambara]

I really think it should be around 40 to 42 on the US$ funny money currency

All fiat currency is 'funny money'... It was a shame the US went off the gold standard.

The truly bad part of this situation, is that the Thai poor only get poorer as the baht improves. Exported products are too expensive, so workers are laid off and no country wants to buy the very expensive Thai rice. For Americans, US grown rice is now cheaper than Thai rice...

[hellodolly]

The other thread says that the market should decide the exchange-rate, this one has proposals for stemming capital inflows, and a serious cut in the interest-rate.

So which is it, guys ?

Thank heavens PTP aren't currently planning to run a party in a brewing-establishment, if only because they're against alcohol-consumption, this week !

You are rite for this week and this week only they want all in Thailand to stop drinking alcohol and drink only ear medicine.

[hellodolly]

It is time to devalue the baht. Bring it down to where it was 30 years ago.

Thailand is known to be a cheap destination. Tourists and expats come here for easy and affordable living. A strong baht will turn people off.

Tourism accounts for a small fraction of the GDP. Perhaps good for you, but other sectors of the economy are benefiting. Energy is one of the largest costs for Thailand and the strong baht has provided much needed relief for the manufacturing and petrochemical sector. This has also allowed some manufacturers to purchase heavy equipment that is foreign sourced. The Thai air transport sector is getting a much needed helping hand in respect to fuel and equipment purchases.

I find it surprising that so many TVF capitalists and proponents of free markets now want intervention ala socialist or liberal finance policies.

The baht will adjust downwards on its own. There is no need for intervention at this time.

You forget the rice and food exporters,no problem, rotten rice and toxic seafood (prohibited in EU) didn't need to be exported. Vietnam has better quality.

GDP 11 %

Sorry not quite on with that. Are you saying rice is 11% of the GDP?

If it is that is a huge part of the economy to kill.

[SantiSuk]

A move of 4/10ths of 1% hardly merits a news piece.

Slow news day, obviously

PS the baht (al long last) weakened by 3.4% against the GB pound sterling as at close of business on Friday (one week move)

Edited April 29, 2013 by SantiSuk

[jombom]

Tourism is rated at approx 6% of GDP, but services which include catering, finance, and banking are rated at 40% of GDP. Draw your own conclusions.

[el jefe]

That's exactly what's happening to the USD, GBP, and EUR

all i can say is everything that goes up, comes down and the bigger it is the harder it falls.

[pacman32]

It is time to devalue the baht. Bring it down to where it was 30 years ago.

Thailand is known to be a cheap destination. Tourists and expats come here for easy and affordable living. A strong baht will turn people off.

you can say that again............i have been putting of my trips for a while now because of the price differences. I spend between 6-8000 over a 3 months stay on average. in 2008-9 that £8000 got me over 500000 baht, the same £8000 now would get me around 300000 now. the annoying thing is though that prices in Thailand are considerably higher for many items and services so to have a similar time as before i need around £14-15,000. On the other hand my girlfriend is struggling to make ends meet living in Thailand as for her prices keep rising. The reality is that most normal people there are seeing no advantage to the high baht and are infact worse off, the only people happy with this seem to be the ones who can afford to invest outside of Thailand.............The Thai government seems to ignore the plight of the many for the gain of the few. It inevitably will lead to a fall but im sure when it does the poor will pay for it while the rich make more money by bringing all that foreign investment back home.

I think 50 to a £ is a fair value but can see it dropping much more when the shit hits the fan.

[lemoncake]

That's exactly what's happening to the USD, GBP, and EUR

all i can say is everything that goes up, comes down and the bigger it is the harder it falls.

THB will follow the suit, its only the matter of time

[pacman32]

I wouldn't be surprised if this is being done so the elite can get their ill gotten gains into other currencies cheaply, and unfortunately at the expense of all the sort of people that support PTP, namely farmers, factory workers and the tourist industry.

As I earn a Thai salary it doesn't affect me as much the many workers involved in exports etc and many of the retired people that chose to make their home here. It looks like some will either have to tighten their belts or move back to their countries.

Of course it is, nothing gets done in Thailand unless it makes money for the hi-so's ..........just like ending police corruption, only mentioned no doubt to increase the tea money being passed upstairs, once done nothing else happens. Thai's only care about hard cash and dont seem to care how they get it or who gets hurt in the process.

Problem with this baht thing though is that currency manipulation will always come back to bite someone .............just not the people it should

[Bikkii]

i used to get 16 baht to the OZ dollar and now its much better

bought bahts at 32

then put it in Thai funds

win win

Thailand says it wont interfere with the baht until it breaches 27 to the USD

If they lower the baht then exports improve - win win on the funds again

i hope

This may be true to a degree, but think of all the foriegn debt Thailand owes, strengthening of the baht helps in reducing its liabilities, albeit in the short term anyway. At the rate it is now, it is a win/lose ratio from whichever side you sit. Strengthens more, then time to do the sums.

[daboyz1]

It is time to devalue the baht. Bring it down to where it was 30 years ago.

Thailand is known to be a cheap destination. Tourists and expats come here for easy and affordable living. A strong baht will turn people off.

I find it surprising that so many TVF capitalists and proponents of free markets now want intervention ala socialist or liberal finance policies.

The baht will adjust downwards on its own. There is no need for intervention at this time.

Even though being American and this somewhat hurts me financially, I agree with you. Can't have it both ways. Govt. should stay out of it.

[MaxYakov]

http://www.forecast-chart.com/usd-thailand-baht.html

[el jefe]

http://www.forecast-chart.com/usd-thailand-baht.html

THB_USD_Hist_32_Yr_Rates.jpeg

Thanks for the graphical proof of what we've been saying. The newcomers here think the baht is overvalued. the baht has to appreciate another 25-30% to return it's historical average. It's tough to convince some like lemoncake that the dollar is still overvalued and needs to fall further since it's big runup.

and for those who think the baht is being manipulated, you're right. the baht would be much higher if they weren't doing their best to keep it down.

[Naam]

i used to get 16 baht to the OZ dollar and now its much better

bought bahts at 32

then put it in Thai funds

win win

Thailand says it wont interfere with the baht until it breaches 27 to the USD

If they lower the baht then exports improve - win win on the funds again

i hope

This may be true to a degree, but think of all the foriegn debt Thailand owes, strengthening of the baht helps in reducing its liabilities, albeit in the short term anyway. At the rate it is now, it is a win/lose ratio from whichever side you sit. Strengthens more, then time to do the sums.

please tell us more about the foreign debt Thailand owes and compare it with the external debt of other countries. it's not rocket science. here's a link:

http://www.indexmundi.com/map/?v=94

[Scully]

As long as Thailand stays stable the Baht will carry on being strong through high capital investment and the buying of bonds. We all know that Thailand can't stay stable forever, but it's certainly staying that way a present.

[nomad127]

As of today 1 USD = 29.28 THB so it seems to be slowly rising again.

[hellodolly]

i used to get 16 baht to the OZ dollar and now its much better

bought bahts at 32

then put it in Thai funds

win win

Thailand says it wont interfere with the baht until it breaches 27 to the USD

If they lower the baht then exports improve - win win on the funds again

i hope

This may be true to a degree, but think of all the foriegn debt Thailand owes, strengthening of the baht helps in reducing its liabilities, albeit in the short term anyway. At the rate it is now, it is a win/lose ratio from whichever side you sit. Strengthens more, then time to do the sums.

please tell us more about the foreign debt Thailand owes and compare it with the external debt of other countries. it's not rocket science. here's a link:

http://www.indexmundi.com/map/?v=94

So how does China with almost 20 times the population that Thailand has and only has about 20% of the dept per Capita make them worse of than Thailand which has about 5 times the amount of dept per capita?

When you start comparing debt per capita you will come out with a completely different chart.

And just imagine what happens to Thailand if they manage to get the 2.2 trillion baht loan. WWhich all by itself will take 50 years to pay off.

[BlackJack]

what you need to ask yourselves is who or what does the debt have to be repaid to?

if you answered the banksters or the fed or the ??? then you are correct!

[Thai at Heart]

i used to get 16 baht to the OZ dollar and now its much better

bought bahts at 32

then put it in Thai funds

win win

Thailand says it wont interfere with the baht until it breaches 27 to the USD

If they lower the baht then exports improve - win win on the funds again

i hope

This may be true to a degree, but think of all the foriegn debt Thailand owes, strengthening of the baht helps in reducing its liabilities, albeit in the short term anyway. At the rate it is now, it is a win/lose ratio from whichever side you sit. Strengthens more, then time to do the sums.

please tell us more about the foreign debt Thailand owes and compare it with the external debt of other countries. it's not rocket science. here's a link:

http://www.indexmundi.com/map/?v=94

So how does China with almost 20 times the population that Thailand has and only has about 20% of the dept per Capita make them worse of than Thailand which has about 5 times the amount of dept per capita?

When you start comparing debt per capita you will come out with a completely different chart.

And just imagine what happens to Thailand if they manage to get the 2.2 trillion baht loan. WWhich all by itself will take 50 years to pay off.

Well it's total foreign debt. At the end of the day, the way the numbers stack up, Thailand looks in a better economic state on purely statistical measurement than just about any developed country, so money flows this way. It isn't some enormous conspiracy to strengthen the baht, just the result of a lot of number crunching geeks sitting behind computer screens a world away, instructing people to buy and sell stuff on the back of investment models.

When the numbers move back the other way, i.e. GDP growth slows down, or public debt gets out of control, then the money moves off, and the exchange rate alters.

As long as the rest of the world is in such relatively bad shape, expect a certain percentage of slightly less risk averse investors to put their money into Thai investments. It isn't rocket science, or some kind of horrendous master plan.

[lemoncake]

http://www.forecast-chart.com/usd-thailand-baht.html

THB_USD_Hist_32_Yr_Rates.jpeg

Thanks for the graphical proof of what we've been saying. The newcomers here think the baht is overvalued. the baht has to appreciate another 25-30% to return it's historical average. It's tough to convince some like lemoncake that the dollar is still overvalued and needs to fall further since it's big runup.

and for those who think the baht is being manipulated, you're right. the baht would be much higher if they weren't doing their best to keep it down.

Sorry i must have missed when you tried to convince me,could you please tell me the exact post

[MarkTudor]

They are probably not intervening as they are expecting some outflow after the Malaysian election is over by this week. Outflow from Thailand is expected to be in the tune of 5-7 billion USD

But yesterday it was OK.

Maybe if they give enough mixed messages the market will pull money anyway. Job done.

But yesterday it was OK.

Maybe if they give enough mixed messages the market will pull money anyway. Job done.

But yesterday it was OK.

Maybe if they give enough mixed messages the market will pull money anyway. Job done.

[Naam]

i used to get 16 baht to the OZ dollar and now its much better

bought bahts at 32

then put it in Thai funds

win win

Thailand says it wont interfere with the baht until it breaches 27 to the USD

If they lower the baht then exports improve - win win on the funds again

i hope

This may be true to a degree, but think of all the foriegn debt Thailand owes, strengthening of the baht helps in reducing its liabilities, albeit in the short term anyway. At the rate it is now, it is a win/lose ratio from whichever side you sit. Strengthens more, then time to do the sums.

please tell us more about the foreign debt Thailand owes and compare it with the external debt of other countries. it's not rocket science. here's a link:

http://www.indexmundi.com/map/?v=94

So how does China with almost 20 times the population that Thailand has and only has about 20% of the dept per Capita make them worse of than Thailand which has about 5 times the amount of dept per capita?

When you start comparing debt per capita you will come out with a completely different chart.

And just imagine what happens to Thailand if they manage to get the 2.2 trillion baht loan. WWhich all by itself will take 50 years to pay off.

any "per capita" reference is bull²!

[el jefe]

http://www.forecast-chart.com/usd-thailand-baht.html

THB_USD_Hist_32_Yr_Rates.jpeg

Thanks for the graphical proof of what we've been saying. The newcomers here think the baht is overvalued. the baht has to appreciate another 25-30% to return it's historical average. It's tough to convince some like lemoncake that the dollar is still overvalued and needs to fall further since it's big runup.

and for those who think the baht is being manipulated, you're right. the baht would be much higher if they weren't doing their best to keep it down.

Sorry i must have missed when you tried to convince me,could you please tell me the exact post

My first post in this thread was in direct response to you.