About 1 1/2 years ago it was 40, now it is essentially 33. That 1000 bhat bill that used to be $25 US is now $33, plus there has been a 6-8% increase in prices. First time we've every paid much attention to the cost of things.
thai baht where is it going
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HansMartin
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The Au$ goes up and down against the greenback regularly but stays fairly steady agaist the Baht.
In Jan we got 28.2 for $1
Currently it is 28.1.
Not as good as a few years ago when you got 30 for a short time but it is still damn good.
It beats me how the Baht stays so steady with all the political and terrorist problems. Must be supply and demand I guess.
In Aus when interest rates go down the value of the $ goes down too.
This did not happen with the recent interest rate reductions in Thailand.
My gut feeling is that the value of the Baht will reduce substantially soon.
In Jan we got 28.2 for $1
Currently it is 28.1.
Not as good as a few years ago when you got 30 for a short time but it is still damn good.
It beats me how the Baht stays so steady with all the political and terrorist problems. Must be supply and demand I guess.
In Aus when interest rates go down the value of the $ goes down too.
This did not happen with the recent interest rate reductions in Thailand.
My gut feeling is that the value of the Baht will reduce substantially soon.
You only live once.
From the Wall Street Journal:
Here's an ironic twist to Thailand's capital-control follies: By restricting foreigners from buying the local currency, with the aim of keeping its value low, Bangkok only put more pressure on the baht to appreciate.
That's the explanation the Bank of Thailand gave Monday when it junked capital controls on certain kinds of foreign-exchange-rate hedging. Thanks to the old controls, imposed in December, foreign companies with Thai operations that couldn't buy baht onshore were forced to find it elsewhere, sending the offshore quotes, at times, 6.5% higher than the onshore price.
The situation "has had a psychological effect on exporters, who panicked and quoted prices of export goods relying on the offshore baht," Bank of Thailand director Suchart Sak-kankosone told the Nation daily. In other words, Bangkok's bumble only pushed the onshore currency price higher and put pressure on Thailand's sacrosanct exporters by making their exports dearer.
We wonder if the forces pushing for a policy reversal are the same people who supported capital controls in the first place, as "protection" against a rising baht. That move sent Bangkok's stock market down 15% in a single day in December -- not good for investor confidence, nor for business.
Since then, the central bank has seen sense and rolled back almost all of the controls. The baht, in the meantime, has continued to rise against the U.S. dollar, hitting a 10-year high yesterday. But contrary to Bangkok's fears, the currency's steady rise hasn't dented Thailand's exports much. On the contrary, exports have zoomed skyward while consumption at home lags, sending the country's current account into record surpluses this year.
Credit for Thailand's export strength goes, first, to a strong global economy and, second, to the fact that the country's exporters aren't as weak as they'd like to pretend. The baht appreciation, too, hasn't been out of step with the rest of Asia, where many currencies have appreciated vis-Ã -vis the U.S. dollar.
The lesson here is that free capital flows are nothing to fear. If anything, letting the baht rise will keep exporters on their toes, forcing them to innovate. There's no folly in that.
Here's an ironic twist to Thailand's capital-control follies: By restricting foreigners from buying the local currency, with the aim of keeping its value low, Bangkok only put more pressure on the baht to appreciate.
That's the explanation the Bank of Thailand gave Monday when it junked capital controls on certain kinds of foreign-exchange-rate hedging. Thanks to the old controls, imposed in December, foreign companies with Thai operations that couldn't buy baht onshore were forced to find it elsewhere, sending the offshore quotes, at times, 6.5% higher than the onshore price.
The situation "has had a psychological effect on exporters, who panicked and quoted prices of export goods relying on the offshore baht," Bank of Thailand director Suchart Sak-kankosone told the Nation daily. In other words, Bangkok's bumble only pushed the onshore currency price higher and put pressure on Thailand's sacrosanct exporters by making their exports dearer.
We wonder if the forces pushing for a policy reversal are the same people who supported capital controls in the first place, as "protection" against a rising baht. That move sent Bangkok's stock market down 15% in a single day in December -- not good for investor confidence, nor for business.
Since then, the central bank has seen sense and rolled back almost all of the controls. The baht, in the meantime, has continued to rise against the U.S. dollar, hitting a 10-year high yesterday. But contrary to Bangkok's fears, the currency's steady rise hasn't dented Thailand's exports much. On the contrary, exports have zoomed skyward while consumption at home lags, sending the country's current account into record surpluses this year.
Credit for Thailand's export strength goes, first, to a strong global economy and, second, to the fact that the country's exporters aren't as weak as they'd like to pretend. The baht appreciation, too, hasn't been out of step with the rest of Asia, where many currencies have appreciated vis-Ã -vis the U.S. dollar.
The lesson here is that free capital flows are nothing to fear. If anything, letting the baht rise will keep exporters on their toes, forcing them to innovate. There's no folly in that.
Yes, I'm preparing myself mentally to see the USD back at 25.0 like it was in 1993-96 period. With local inflation over those past 11-14 years, let's say a dollar would then get me about 12 Baht worth of the same thing now. If I didn't have the responsibilities I have, I think I'd be in Laos or Cambodia already.
I know an expensive place but with guests, some don't like to go to market stalls or beer bars. Jameson's pub here, 5 pints of draft Heineken, two diet cokes and two orders of french fries, 1,000 baht even. That's just about what you'd pay in a pub in Hong Kong in USD terms.
Pete 
I know an expensive place but with guests, some don't like to go to market stalls or beer bars. Jameson's pub here, 5 pints of draft Heineken, two diet cokes and two orders of french fries, 1,000 baht even. That's just about what you'd pay in a pub in Hong Kong in USD terms.
Pete Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Source
I was saying the same sort of thing on one of the other threads earlier. OK, my dosh is GBP which is more stable than the USD at the moment, but it's still depreciating. Add inflation into the equation, both here and back home with interest rates rising and Thailand gets expensive.prcscct wrote:Yes, I'm preparing myself mentally to see the USD back at 25.0 like it was in 1993-96 period. With local inflation over those past 11-14 years, let's say a dollar would then get me about 12 Baht worth of the same thing now. If I didn't have the responsibilities I have, I think I'd be in Laos or Cambodia already.
I know an expensive place but with guests, some don't like to go to market stalls or beer bars. Jameson's pub here, 5 pints of draft Heineken, two diet cokes and two orders of french fries, 1,000 baht even. That's just about what you'd pay in a pub in Hong Kong in USD terms.
Unfortunately, my income from rental dosn't increase at the same rate as Thailand's prices. Plus potential visa extension increases? I give up!!!! It's nowhere near impossible yet, but the future's uncertain. If I hadn't got married 2 years ago, I'd be seriously looking at other countries right now - same as you Pete. At least we don't have the added responsibility of kids - yet.
Thailand's a great country, as are its people. But.......?
No more negative vibes, Moriarty. C'mon Thailand. I reckon the score will be 20 - 0, to Thailand. Dream on.
My theory on this is that there is only one group of people benefiting from dual rates for the same currency, and they are the ones with a lot of it.
This has been bought in since the military took over and it seems fitting that they would be able to speculate and make money on their own currency simply by introducing two exchange rates and buying and selling baht.
Who else on the planet wants to buy baht?
This has been bought in since the military took over and it seems fitting that they would be able to speculate and make money on their own currency simply by introducing two exchange rates and buying and selling baht.
Who else on the planet wants to buy baht?
Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed? - Hunter S Thompson
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JimboPSM
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Mack111 wrote:the USD dropping is a nightmare for us guys in the oil industry, all most every one gets paid in USD and we've had like 20% pay cut over the last 2 years.
most of the non amercian oil companies are soon to start selling oil in Euro's which will make the USD plummet further..
The biggest threat to the US economy and the value of the USD would be the transfer of energy pricing from USD to EUR.
There would be no need for any country to hold substantial reserves in USD any longer.
That this would happen was predicted at the time the Euro currency was launched. It will take another few year for other commodities to follow. No longer dependant on the USD (read: US economic-financial monopoly that dominated international trade policy for decades). Let the competition begin. I think it is a good thing although oil companies and the others to follow will (mis)use the currency switch to increase prices. But that is a short term effect only. Money to be made there, now I think of it. 
We are all living in 'the good old days' of the future.
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JimboPSM
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If you are into conspiracy theories, there is a lot of stuff on the internet that, ultimately, it was actually the threat by Saddam to switch his oil sales to EUR from USD that was a step too far for Bush, Cheney & Rumsfeld 
Ironically, just found this Breaking News on Bloomberg, but it's Yen not Euro:
Ironically, just found this Breaking News on Bloomberg, but it's Yen not Euro:
Iran Asks Japan to Pay Yen for Oil, Start Immediately (Update1)
By Megumi Yamanaka
July 13 (Bloomberg) -- Iran asked Japanese refiners to switch to the yen to pay for all crude oil purchases, after Iran's central bank said it's cutting holdings of the U.S. dollar.
Iran wants yen-based transactions ``for any/all of your forthcoming Iranian crude oil liftings,'' according to a letter sent to Japanese refiners that was signed by Ali A. Arshi, general manager of crude oil marketing and exports in Tehran at the National Iranian Oil Co. The request is for all shipments ``effective immediately,'' according to the letter, dated July 10 and obtained by Bloomberg News.
The yen rose on expectations for an increase in demand for the currency to buy shipments from Iran, Japan's third-largest oil supplier. Central bankers in Venezuela, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates have said they will invest less of their reserves in dollar assets because of the weakening currency, while the United Nations Security Council is preparing for another round of sanctions against Iran because of the nation's nuclear research.
``What else can Japan do but to accept the request, once the oil producer sent its wish?'' said Hirofumi Kawachi, an analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities Co. in Tokyo. ``The tensions between the U.S. and Iran are escalating, and it's Iran's measure to hedge risk.''
A spokesman for Iran's oil ministry in Tehran said he could neither confirm nor deny that the letter had been sent. Most Japanese oil refiners have until now used U.S. dollars to pay Iran for oil, said the spokesman, who declined to be identified by name because of government policy.
Yen Advances
The yen advanced to 122.15 per dollar at 10:34 a.m. in New York, from 122.42 late yesterday.
The Islamic republic, holder of the world's second-largest oil and gas reserves, has refused to halt uranium enrichment that it says is for use in nuclear power plants to produce electricity. The U.S. says Iran seeks instead to develop an atomic bomb. Enriched uranium can be used to make nuclear fuel or build nuclear weapons.
The government in Tehran has failed to suspend its nuclear activities after the imposition of two sets of United Nations- sponsored sanctions since December.
Iran isn't alone in wanting to drop the dollar for pricing oil. Russia has been examining plans to price the Urals oil export blend in rubles to curb currency risks. The nation plans to open the Energy Stock Exchange in St. Petersburg in the first half of next year to trade oil in rubles, UBS AG reported June 14.
`New Payment Mechanism'
Iran asked the refiners to use the yen exchange rate quoted at the Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ on the date oil cargoes are loaded. The use of yen-based letters of credit for oil ``has finally been approved'' by the Iranian central bank and the NIOC, according to the letter, titled ``New payment mechanism for Iranian Crude Oil Cargoes.''
Payments from Japanese refiners to Iran rose 12 percent last year to 1.24 trillion yen ($10.1 billion), according to the finance ministry in Tokyo. Japan imported 1.59 million kiloliters of Iranian crude oil in May, the least since June 2006, according to government data.
Iran is cutting its U.S. dollar reserves to less than 20 percent of total foreign currency holdings, and will buy more euros and yen as tensions with the U.S. increase, Central Bank Governor Ebrahim Sheibany said on March 27.
Only Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are larger oil suppliers to Japan than Iran.
To contact the reporter on this story: Megumi Yamanaka in Tokyo at myamanaka@bloomberg.net .
Last Updated: July 13, 2007 10:59 EDT