Foreign reserves stocked up to prepare for baht uncertainty

[webfact]

Foreign reserves stocked up to prepare for baht uncertainty
By English News



BANGKOK, Oct 25 – The Bank of Thailand (BoT) has predicted volatility in the money market due to the ongoing risk from the US extension of its debt ceiling.

Pongpen Ruengvirayudh, BoT deputy governor for monetary stability, said there were periods when the Thai baht dropped by 7-8 per cent though it had never before slid down 10 per cent.

It cannot be predicted whether the US will extend the debt ceiling after the February 7, 2014 deadline but the BoT will keep sufficient foreign reserves to cope with the possible baht volatility, she said.

The Thai currency will be maintained at a level acceptable to Thai business operators and to prevent severe impact from foreign capital outflows, she said.

Ms Pongpen said the BoT will launch its Thai Direct Investment (TDI) webpage to provide one-stop information to investors and to encourage more Thai business operators to invest abroad.

Thai investors have invested at a total of US$5.5 billion in the first eight months of this year, a slight decrease from the same period last year at US$7.8 billion.

Thai investment overseas amounted to US$12.7 billion last year. (MCOT online new)


-- TNA 2013-10-25

[lemoncake]

In other words it is BOT who determines and holds baht value not a free market as claimed before??

[negreanu]

The Thai currency will be maintained at a level acceptable

uh-oh....Welcome to world economics 101.

[JoeThePoster]

When foreign reserves drop, there's always rice.

[apetley]

Pongpen Ruengvirayudh, BoT deputy governor for monetary stability, said there were periods when the Thai baht dropped by 7-8 per cent though it had never before slid down 10 per cent.

In the nineties the bht dropped something like 75% over a 'period'.

Where's the journalist that can question the bilge put out and not simply do a cut and paste job of a BoT press release?

[Naam]

Pongpen Ruengvirayudh, BoT deputy governor for monetary stability, said there were periods when the Thai baht dropped by 7-8 per cent though it had never before slid down 10 per cent.

either the deputy governor or a misquoting journalist had too much cheap booze in his bloodstream. not to mention that the headline of the article is utter rubbish

[worgeordie]

Never mind the U.S. debit ceiling, the Thai s want to worry about their own debit,

which seems like going out of control. (but it will be someone else's fault).

regards Worgeordie

[KittenKong]

In other words it is BOT who determines and holds baht value not a free market as claimed before??

I think that claim comes from the same pamphlet that said there is no prostitution in Thailand and no traffic jams in Bangkok.

[mccw]

Never mind the U.S. debit ceiling, the Thai s want to worry about their own debit,

which seems like going out of control. (but it will be someone else's fault).

regards Worgeordie

Thai debt to GDP after the 2 trillion will be about 40% if I remember right- US on the other hand is fast approaching 100

[finnomick]

In other words it is BOT who determines and holds baht value not a free market as claimed before??

I think that claim comes from the same pamphlet that said there is no prostitution in Thailand and no traffic jams in Bangkok.

.....and of course, NO floods. The fields around here are thigh-deep in water and many roads under water but I guess that doesn't constitute flooding

[hellodolly]

Never mind the U.S. debit ceiling, the Thai s want to worry about their own debit,

which seems like going out of control. (but it will be someone else's fault).

regards Worgeordie

Thai debt to GDP after the 2 trillion will be about 40% if I remember right- US on the other hand is fast approaching 100

I thought they were planing on a debt repayment structure that would not figure in the the National Debt.

[mccw]

Never mind the U.S. debit ceiling, the Thai s want to worry about their own debit,

which seems like going out of control. (but it will be someone else's fault).

regards Worgeordie

Thai debt to GDP after the 2 trillion will be about 40% if I remember right- US on the other hand is fast approaching 100

I thought they were planing on a debt repayment structure that would not figure in the the National Debt.

Maybe. Don't think they worked out <deleted> they are doing tbh. Haha.

Was talk of running it all or much through state owned banks. Which is genius I think; basically 2trillion bht of QE by another name / method then isn't it? Possible bht weakening from this, but They get the infrastructure (unlike west just getting a load of crap banks pieces of debt paper); keep bht competitive in the face of weakening western currencies from the ongoing stimulus. I think the Thais foriegn debt is getting paid off right now with this stronger bht and future debt if basically owed to themselves/ state owned banks could just be restructured or forgiven even.

All the QE in UK etc is owed to themselves and interest circled around so actual debt is actually much lower than what is reported as a total. They are basically printing money to pay off the outside debt holders.

All of this has to be incredibly inflationary down the line. I think the reason for the cuts and rhetoric in the west is actually to try and keep a lid on the inflationary effects of all this money creation. Since they are just printing to prop up the banks they may as well print to invest in infrastructure and or services one would think. China and now Thailand, on the other hand, are creating money to build. As we run down this road to the further future this is why I beleive East Asia will come out stronger.

As I was saying with the banking stream of talk- UK has horrible amounts of crap in the banking system. Just more paper bailing out paper. 5-10-15+ years is not pretty. We (UK) are not building any national assets. We are selling or sold them all to foreigners or letting them crumble.

[mccw]

(The "banking stream" reference I meant was over in the THB to gbp exchange rate thread) (getting my threads mixed up)

[jpduggan]

''Thai investors have invested at a total of US$5.5 billion in the first eight months of this year, a slight decrease from the same period last year at US$7.8 billion.'' Typical Thainess ''a slight decrease''....just nearly 30%

[shaurene]

In other words it is BOT who determines and holds baht value not a free market as claimed before??

They have pegged the Baht to the $US for many years.

[Naam]

In other words it is BOT who determines and holds baht value not a free market as claimed before??

They have pegged the Baht to the $US for many years.

peg? high/low difference 145%!

[yoshiwara]

In other words it is BOT who determines and holds baht value not a free market as claimed before??

They have pegged the Baht to the $US for many years.

There are pegs and there are pegs. HKD style peg? SGD style peg? What?

[Naam]

In other words it is BOT who determines and holds baht value not a free market as claimed before??

They have pegged the Baht to the $US for many years.

There are pegs and there are pegs. HKD style peg? SGD style peg? What?

the style is called "pecker"

[billd766]

"Pongpen Ruengvirayudh, BoT deputy governor for monetary stability, said there were periods when the Thai baht dropped by 7-8 per cent though it had never before slid down 10 per cent."

I wonder if K Pongpen Ruengvirayudh, BoT deputy governor would like to cast his mind (if he has one) back to July 1997 and tell the world how much the baht crashed by compared to the major currencies in the world?

A smallreminder from 2000 to 2004.

5 year trend 2000 to 2004 v01.xls

Edited October 27, 2013 by billd766

[lemoncake]

"Pongpen Ruengvirayudh, BoT deputy governor for monetary stability, said there were periods when the Thai baht dropped by 7-8 per cent though it had never before slid down 10 per cent."

I wonder if K Pongpen Ruengvirayudh, BoT deputy governor would like to cast his mind (if he has one) back to July 1997 and tell the world how much the baht crashed by compared to the major currencies in the world?

A smallreminder from 2000 to 2004.

5 year trend 2000 to 2004 v01.xls

I believe he was referring to recent times not ancient times