Thai treasury reserves down 85% since coup

[webfact]

Thai treasury reserves down 85% since coup

By Sasiwan Mokkhasen, Staff Reporter

 

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha promotes the junta-backed Prompt Pay system on Aug. 9 at Government House in Bangkok.

 

BANGKOK — The Finance Minister insisted Monday the military government is not running out of money despite having burned through most of the reserves in place when it seized power.

 

Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong admitted the treasury balance was now under a sixth of what it was when the military came to power in 2014, from 495 billion to 75 billion baht. But, he said, that depletion of 420 billion baht from the coffers was a healthy adjustment and meant the government was relying less on loans.

 

Full story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/politics/2017/02/06/thai-treasury-loses-85-since-coup/

 

-- © Copyright Khaosod English 2017-02-07

[Somtamnication]

Ahhhhh, the smell of bs in the morning! 

[ezzra]

Could that be one of the reason they jacked the excise on aviation fuel by 4 folds?

and that is the sign of things to come?....

[lemonjelly]

And yet can still find the cash to buy submarines...... sad

[Eligius]

Nobody has got their fingers in the till, of course. No, no, no.  Only those filthy Shins would get up to such malfeasance and theft!

[DrTuner]

That's a serious burn rate, even the worst startups would be proud. Is it already 90's again? Can't wait.

Edited February 6, 2017 by DrTuner
Funky addition

[Sphere]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

....was a healthy adjustment...

 

It must be the Wednesday exercises....

[Brer Fox]

Blind Freddy could have seen this coming. Military governments do not understand the meaning of financial restraint. They spend like drunken sailors particularly on their beloved war toys. Tax hikes to try to claw some money back has already started with the increase on duty on jet fuel. For sure there are many more increases on duty and excise on the way. Motor fuels and booze are sure to rise. Just wait until they have to start to fork out for high speed trains. Then the lid will really blow off the economy. Thailand ain't seen nothing yet; particularly if a few wild cards like Trump policy decisions affect their exports.

[davehowden]

"But, he said, that depletion of 420 billion baht from the coffers was a healthy adjustment and meant the government was relying less on loans."

 

Sorry, say that again for me !!!

[Thailand]

Bankruptcy by the end of 2018 at this rate.

Guess tourism and foreign investment income is not filling the coffers despite the huge increases we are continually told about.

The reserves have been propping up the baht but that is obviously likely to change, could always print more money but we know what happens then.

Looks like a bubble about to burst, the elites and the rest behind the last coup will be hurting and unhappy.

[colinneil]

Healthy adjustment    as i have said before the poor man lives in LA-LA land.

Even spending some of that money getting his colour co-ordinated jacket just for the event.

[whatawonderfulday]

Let's get the GBP and US back to 75/48 respectively asap as the Baht has been propped up far too long

[The man from udon]

So how is the government in the position to cover the banks.i have my life savings in a bank that could go tits up and it should be covered by the government.im questioning myself should I really leave my money in the hands of this man.in fact it's time for a rethink about investing somewhere else.pronto.

[lemonjelly]

It's like just discovering that the guy you lent your car to for the weekend turned out to be a joyrider.

[JB300]

"But, he said, that depletion of 420 billion baht from the coffers was a healthy adjustment and meant the government was relying less on loans."
 
Sorry, say that again for me !!!

I got that bit (use "Savings" instead of borrowing money)

& this bit threw me at first... "Having a high treasury balance is a burden on the government"... "Apisak said higher cash reserves meant the government had to pay more interest on its debt obligations".

But I guess what they're really saying is the money in reserve is (net) borrowed so if they use it instead of borrowing more then it's better for the economy (assuming they don't suddenly need to borrow money).

But what a way to spin it!

[Naam]

i can only shake my head when i read all these ignorant remarks from people who obviously mix up the country's reserves with the amount in government coffers.

 

eat your heart out Thai bashers!

 

Edited February 6, 2017 by Naam

[chiang mai]

I presume the article is referring to Thailands budget deficit which is very low by comparison to other countries. As I recall they said last year that they would increase that deficit this year hence what's being reported is a non-event and old news at that. I know it wont go down well with many readers but the man is correct that it's more cost effective to pay down loans and pay cash rather than pay interest on loans to complete those projects, which is why every governement in the world does the exact same thing. Sorry to interrupt your bashing, please continue with the conspiracy theories and tales of financial mismanagement and highlighting how little you understand about economics.

[chiang mai]

32 minutes ago, whatawonderfulday said:

Let's get the GBP and US back to 75/48 respectively asap as the Baht has been propped up far too long

That's being planned already, they'll get to that level on the same day Betamax tapes are reintroduced.

[davehowden]

A chart for every occasion.

 

 

Edited February 7, 2017 by davehowden
error

[craigt3365]

4 minutes ago, davehowden said:

A chart for every occasion.

 

 

Naam's chart also shows a drop.  Just not as noticeable as his covers a longer time frame.

[chiang mai]

15 minutes ago, davehowden said:

A chart for every occasion.

 

Same source shows declining reserves.

The actual numbers are here:

 

http://www2.bot.or.th/statistics/BOTWEBSTAT.aspx?reportID=94&language=ENG

 

Your chart over dramatises the ranges which are historically normal (which is why naam posted a much longer period of time), it also doesn't consider the impact of exchange rate fluctuations which is a key component in valuing the foreign currency reserves.

Edited February 7, 2017 by chiang mai

[StefanBBK]

Not really sure what reserves the article is talking about. Is it just the available cash flow?
Last Year's budget was 2,720 bn baht. That means government spent roughly 225 bn baht per month. In that context a reserve of only 0.3 monthly spending seems very low to me.
Anybody with an economics background care to shed some more light on this? Maybe compare with other countries?

Sent from my SM-G925F using Thaivisa Connect mobile app

[chiang mai]

2 minutes ago, StefanBBK said:

Not really sure what reserves the article is talking about. Is it just the available cash flow?
Last Year's budget was 2,720 bn baht. That means government spent roughly 225 bn baht per month. In that context a reserve of only 0.3 monthly spending seems very low to me.
Anybody with an economics background care to shed some more light on this? Maybe compare with other countries?

Sent from my SM-G925F using Thaivisa Connect mobile app
 

As said previously, it is low and is intended to be increased, the numbers are here:

 

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/thailand/government-budget

[LazySlipper]

OK... wow-- at first I thought that maybe this could help restore some health to the Canuck Loonie, (praying for a miracle) by having the Thais devaluate the baht. Then I thought again that maybe this only means that in order to readjust the loss to the treasury chances are that the cost of living will increase instead. Truth be told, I see nothing healthy about this so maybe the PM will now try to make good on the loan made to Yinkgluck in order to restore some of the money back to the coffers.

 

Edited February 7, 2017 by LazySlipper

[The man from udon]

2 minutes ago, chiang mai said:

That's being planned already, they'll get to that level on the same day Betamax tapes are reintroduced.

Totally agree and we know what goes up in Thailand stays up.not that I'm complaining,I moved all my savings out of the uk the two weeks before brexit.probably made 15-20% if I changed it back into pounds but wouldn't be of the slightest bit of use to me now I'm retired here.the only problem is I don't trust Thai banks.it could all go tits up and end up like the Cyprus bank collapse.i don't care what numbers the Thai government come out with as they seem to use dice to find the numbers they need to show like the 1% unemployment rate.

[Naam]

56 minutes ago, chiang mai said:

1 hour ago, whatawonderfulday said:

Let's get the GBP and US back to 75/48 respectively asap as the Baht has been propped up far too long

That's being planned already, they'll get to that level on the same day Betamax tapes are reintroduced.

...and steam engines in Ferraris

[Naam]

 

56 minutes ago, craigt3365 said:

1 hour ago, davehowden said:

A chart for every occasion.

 

 

Naam's chart also shows a drop.  Just not as noticeable as his covers a longer time frame.

i don't see a drop year on year! jan2016 = 160bb, dec2016 = 172bb. the line indicating january reserves is taken from thin air.

Edited February 7, 2017 by Naam

[Ricardo]

2 hours ago, lemonjelly said:

And yet can still find the cash to buy submarines...... sad

 

Agreed, although I've yet to see that the order for these has actually been placed, do you have a link please ?

 

The RTN did get a half-dozen patrol-boats recently, as a consolation-prize, far more useful & cheaper-to-run IMO.

[Naam]

54 minutes ago, The man from udon said:

Totally agree and we know what goes up in Thailand stays up.not that I'm complaining,I moved all my savings out of the uk the two weeks before brexit.probably made 15-20% if I changed it back into pounds but wouldn't be of the slightest bit of use to me now I'm retired here.the only problem is I don't trust Thai banks.it could all go tits up and end up like the Cyprus bank collapse.i don't care what numbers the Thai government come out with as they seem to use dice to find the numbers they need to show like the 1% unemployment rate.

are you aware that there are other countries besides UK and Thailand where you can find banks?

[robblok]

They could be right..(though i don't believe it) But holding a large amount of cash while you have loans is crazy, so in that respect they are right.

 

Just imagine you got 10.000 on your bank while you got a loan of 20.000 that your paying a lot on.. then lowering your bank account to 5000 and y our loan to 15.000 makes sense. So the explanation is ok. But to be sure of this you need to know how much the loans have mutated and the deficit of the countries budget.