25 replies to this topic

[Rollo]

I can't believe the rate of the bath I watched today!!!

Goddamnit....

1.000,00 THBThailandia Baht = 24,6529 EUR


1 THB = 0,0246529 EUR 1 EUR = 40,5632 THB

I don't remember in the last 4 years it was so expensive!!!!

It rose up like 25% since 2007

Is it correct...or is it a joke?

[gildas]

the £/Baht exchange rate over the last 12 months. I'm off out to slit my wrists.

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[yung havok]

What the fuck is going on here?

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[xyzzy]

What the fuck is going on here?

The government is printing money like it is going out of style. The dollar, pound and euro all are in distress. Until there is a real economic recovery and those currencies at least hint they will raise interest rates it isn't likely to get much better. Unless something expected bad happens to the baht. We are taking a bath on the exchange rate.

[boss45]

This is exactly why I get frustrated with bar owners who keep their drink prices high and complain that people are not coming to their bar. Get a CLUE!!! When your currencies rises, it makes it more expensive for tourists to come to your country. DON'T RAISE PRICES, LOWER THEM to draw people to your establishment!!! Man, a bag of chips in LOS costs $10US. That is absurd!!!!! We spend enough money on air and hotel!!!!!

[ScottishLadyboyTerrorist]

This is exactly the reason why I am looking to see what else is out there in terms of fun places to go. I will of course bring my partner with me. It will be as much as a holiday for her as it will be a change for me.

The baht is dreadfull and it has not got any better in the last year. You just wonder when it will bounce back and entice holidaymakers back.

[Sweet&Wild]

It has to come to a head soon. The baht is artificially inflated by at least 20%. Some rich Thais must be buying a lot of US dollars; this will soon end, and it will be readjusted.

No, it is the other way round!
Much international money flowing into emerging economies (similar in Brazil .... with the exception of China, with fixed exchange rate).

Thai economy must be booming -- outside tourism, of course.

But to stimulate exports, everyone (apart from Europeans, at the moment) wants to devaluate their currencies, first of all the US. That´s what is going on here, the Baht being only a tiny part in the bigger picture.
Thailand is even beginning to implement capital control, to stop too much money flowing in ....


I tend to think this is a permanent trend: successful emerging economies will have a bigger share in world eceonomy, hence stronger currencies.
So travelling there will become more expensive (for people in the old industrialized countries), simply by virtue of the exchange rate!

[yung havok]

I'm going early 2011 and I don't think the free falling dollar is gonna dissuade me but damn if it aint turning the screws. The airfare is a bitch too. I'm gonna have to turn up the old charm and squeeze out a shit load of freebies this time around. I might not step foot in a fucking nana bar the whole time. Getting baht out of me is gonna be like squeezing blood out of a rock. Dont let recession and inflation get you down fellow mongers stay strong!

[Crackerjax]

Sweet & Wild wrote:

Much international money flowing into emerging economies (similar in Brazil .... with the exception of China, with fixed exchange rate).

Actually China instituted controls on incoming hard currency about 4 years when it revalued the Yuan about 10%. While the Yuan is not a freely traded "hard" currency, the Chinese government has allowed it to appreciate a further 10% over the past two years. Despite this, the Yuan-USD exchange rate continues to be a major irritant in relations and strident demands for it's further appreciation are a staple on the US political scene nowadays.

Sweet & Wild is correct when he states that the world economy is shifting with growth centered upon emerging economies - including Thailand. Hot money will continue to flow into these places and out of dollars, the euro, and the pound. In countries without a floating currency regime, a lot of this money will have to be invested into hard local assets - one reason why real estate prices are rising as fast as they are in much of the developing world.

If you believe that the days of the western hegemony over the world economy are over, AND you like to monger in LOS, you might think about getting yourself one of those new condos springing up all over Bangkok, Pattaya, and Phuket. You'll be moving money from a stagnant economy that has probably seen its best days, into growing one, full of ambitious, upwardly mobile (and oddly attractive ) young people. AND you'll likely see an additional return on the currency whenever you decide to sell and repatriate the money back to your home country in 10 or 20 years time

If not, you'll just have to wait for the economies in those places to collapse and scoop up bargains at some future date when the resulting increase in desperately poor people, empty condos, and a cheap currency make the world right again.

In the meantime be prepared to pay more than you used to in countries such as LOS or China or Brazil or India or..... Or go further afield in your search - easy in the case of GG's, but not so much for deviants of our particular bent.

Of course there's always the Philippines with its particularly fucked up government and perennially under performing economy to save us. Did I mention that I'm off to the PI for a walkabout in December?

No point in complaining about the sun rising every day boys.

[rxpharm]

very good observations by crackerjax and Sweet and Wild. It is totally unrealistic to expect countries with appreciating currencies to decrease prices to attract a tourist from a country with depreciating exchange rates. They are better off to attract tourists from countries with stronger currencies or change their focus to wealthy locals.

The option expressed by pandemonium is also there, and yung havok, I think you may find freebies harder to come by, even if you are a very handsum man but without much Baht.