The Baht

[kdc1899 1]

Uhg... Don't understand internation finance. US is raising against the Euro, but falling against the Baht! Overall, looks like I should have visited LOS three months ago. Oh well...

If I buy Euros with U.S. Dollars and exchange the Euros for Baht; will I be ahead?

[pattysteve 34]

If I buy Euros with U.S. Dollars and exchange the Euros for Baht; will I be ahead?

Erm the simple answer is no all currencies are linked.

 

However if there is some time between the exchanges you will be open to

the normal fluctuations between them.Which could go up or down.

 

Also you will incurr 2 lots of commission or the difference between buying and selling rates.

[Soi7 1]

37.89 to the dollar on the street this morning.

[Braveheart 0]

It will really depend on the currency exchange service you use.

 

How much commission they are charging?

 

What is their exchange rate as this will differ from the open market rate.

 

As a general rule the more you change your money the more you are going to lose.

Edited April 5, 2006 by Braveheart

[vanhalen 0]

Was speaking to a city dealer who works in Londons financial square mile today, he succesfully trades forex for a living. He expects the Baht to keep on going from strength to strength with another 10 - 15% before the exchange rate starts to flat line. That means we could see sub 60 baht / pound exchange rate in months to come. I would expect the same pattern for the dollar and other relatively stable currencies.

 

Anyone thinking of holidaying in the near future, say later this year would be well advised to buy their baht now as opposed to waiting until they land in BKK.

 

Hope this helps, but please do your own research !!!

Edited April 5, 2006 by vanhalen

[Guest Fatboyfat]

It has been suggested to me that provided there are no further financial disasters in either Thailand or Euro/UK/US (Can't really see that being the case tho' ), then the Baht should fairly quickly reach a steady value of 50~55 to the £. Which was about the level before the major fluctuations occurred.

 

I certainly (somewhat conservatively) work on a possible exchange rate of 50 Baht to the £ for any future "life" decisions.

[wacmedia 277]

the Baht should fairly quickly reach a steady value of 50~55 to the £. Which was about the level before the major fluctuations occurred.

 

Hi,

 

Can't see it, but lots of us boardies are up shit creek if you are right.

[pattysteve 34]

Hmmmmmmm 50-55 to the £ is definately possible,and yes you are right up the

creek would be about right.

 

I was just wondering if ppl would like to recall the exchange rates from the past

and ill transfer them to a graph.

 

I can go back to 1988 i think it was about 38 and around 40 in 1992,its a long time ago so i stand to be corrected on these figures.

[ben99 0]

Well the trend appears to be against us now. 66.45 baht to the £.

 

For my vacation in June, I'm now assuming 60 baht to the £ and anything better, will be a bonus.

 

Will the bar girls and hotels, lower there charges? I doubt it!

 

I don't want to buy the baht now, as I don't feel comfortable carrying large amounts of cash around. I'd be very happy with an average of 65 baht now.

 

http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi

Edited April 7, 2006 by ben99

[phantomtiger 0]

Can't agree with x-change bahts at home now if planning on vacation in LOS later this year thinking the rates will continue downward.

Reasons:

1) the exchange rate at your home country will suck to begin with

2)you will be left carrying alot of bahts around for nothing

3)if plans change and you cancel trip to LOS, then now you are really stuck with bahts at home and changing back to home currency will cost you another exhange fee.

4) best just to x-change when you get there and hope rates are better (higher). if not, then its just another extra cost for 4P4. (but still worth it).

 

IMO only

 

PT

[TALBOTMAN 0]

MY first visit was in march 1993 and then it was 38 bhat to the pound£ but hotels were cheeper ,drinks were cheeper and most importantly the girls were cheeper, i must be totaly honest here i am far from a cheap charlie i come to thailand and spend an average of 8,000 bhat a day so if the bhat falls below 63 bhat to £ i will be giving LOS A BODY swerve for some time and discovering angeles city in philipines i am coming for 17 days in july thats 17x8ooo bhat = 136.000 bhat at my last visit in november that would have been £1,835 but if it falls to 63 bhat then that would be £2,150 thats a loss of £315 or approx 22,000 bhat since november thats a lot of dough for a normal working guy who trys to get two visits a year to los i could just about tolerate that but god help us if it went down to 50-55 bhat that would be me finished with los because thats a loss in spending power of 34,000 to 46,000 bhat to the pound in six months £500-£800 more each visit thats just too much and as someone says already the girls aint gonna lowere there prices and the drinks aint gonna come down

[wacmedia 277]

the girls aint gonna lowere there prices and the drinks aint gonna come down

 

Hi,

 

Too true, and if the baht went the other way hotels etc would start quoting in dollars which they have done before. If it gets too crazy all you can do is vote with your feet. Otherwise, just accept it and do the best you can with available funds.

[nico 0]

I've been studying currency exchange rates for over 20 years, and I one thing I have learned is that it is impossible to predict how a currency will fluctuate. Not only that, it is impossible to figure out what factors drive a currency up or down. Every time I think I have it figured out something happens to prove me wrong.

 

The only absolute rule is that every time you exchange currency somebody makes a profit, and it isn't you.

[Rex7777 0]

Just for the heck of it, I checked the rates for the baht today. The baht seems to be rising vs. just about every currency. Of course, I only care about the dollar, but it's not just a dollar thing. Maybe it's just a final spurt before it (the baht) reverses direction?

 

Rex

[harrydash 0]

I've been studying currency exchange rates for over 20 years, and I one thing I have learned is that it is impossible to predict how a currency will fluctuate.  Not only that, it is impossible to figure out what factors drive a currency up or down.  Every time I think I have it figured out something happens to prove me wrong.

 

The only absolute rule is that every time you exchange currency somebody makes a profit, and it isn't you.

Totally agree Nico.

 

If you listen to the currency experts on say Bloomberg, one will say they are bullish about the £ and 15 minutes later another will forecast the opposite.

 

If anyone knew for sure, they would not need to work.

 

Everyone has a different opinion on where the baht is headed.

 

Mine is that it has risen sharply because the Thai government keeps raising interest rates to try and curb inflation.

Once this stops, I predict it will weaken and we will see 75 to the £ again.

I hope.

 

[BongoBill9999 0]

Also agree with Nico, and Harry makes a good point reference inflation.

 

A look at Thai interest rates (Bank of Thailand website) shows, broadly, an increase from 1% to 2% in Dec 05 and to 3% in Mar 06. It is now slightly higher and of course you will get a better rate for longer term deposits.

 

Interesting snippet from the Thai Monetary Policy Board meeting of 10 Apr 06(thought only the Brits had one of those!):-

 

"Overall economic stability improved. Headline inflation edged up slightly in March 2006, but its quarterly average was lower than that of the previous quarter. Core inflation was quite stable for the last 3-4 months and was expected to decline in the latter half of this year." (my italics)

 

A shift in fortunes then? Hope springs eternal.......

 

Bill

[Chivas 0]

Hmmmmmmm 50-55 to the £ is definately possible,and yes you are right up the

creek would be about right.

 

I was just wondering if ppl would like to recall the exchange rates from the past

and ill transfer them to a graph.

 

I can go back to 1988 i think it was about 38 and around 40 in 1992,its a long time ago so i stand to be corrected on these figures.

1985/86 in Pattaya sterling was 27 baht to the £

This was the time sterling was just above parity to the dollar.

Personally cant remember it lower than that.

 

Chivas

[Soi7 1]

37.59 to the Dollar on Beach Road today

[otherway 5]

This is pretty bad news for most of us. I thought the present politcal situation would make the bht drop.But it looks like those predicting sub 60bht to he £ could be right.

 

The 1985/86 rate of 27bht to the £ was really because of the £ being unstable at the time. I remember it well I had just been offered a job in the middle east and didnt go because the exchange rate was so poor. The bht was tied to the US$.

 

When I was in Thailand in 1994 I remember it was 38bht to the £ it fluctuated around that I think for the next few years and then went to 80bht to the £ after the asian financial crisis in 1998 ?? When the link to the US$ was broken. I remember all the dive shops suddenly started listing their prices in US$.

[ben99 0]

Baht weakened ever so slightly against the £, now 66.40.

 

Let's keep our collective fingers and toes crossed. It's had a three month bull run, so hopefully it might have peaked and it's all set for a summer slide

[ben99 0]

Now 66.91

 

Come on you 70's

[ben99 0]

Baht now weakened over last 24 hours to stand at 67.2, against the £.

 

Could this be the start of a new trend?

 

I'm certainly encouraged it failed to break the 66 resistance.

[ben99 0]

Baht has weakened considerably over the last 36 hours, against the £. Now 68.4

 

Hopefully this is a new trend now becoming established. Would be great to see it back over 70 again. Worth a few extra ST's that is

 

http://www.xe.com/ucc/

[pentire 1]

68.51 to the Pound...Creeping ever closer back towards the glorious 70's

[Soi7 1]

37.20 to the US Dollar