varies a lot from site to site:
Oanda: roughly 33.78 Baht/Dollar (although there is a wide range reported here - very confusing)
Bank of Ayadhya: 33.14 B/D
XE.com: 33.49 B/D
Siam Commercial Bank: 33.12 B/D
Which to believe? My account is at Siam Commercial Bank. Looks like that's the worst rate going!
But, 33+ is a lot better than what it was, and if it continues to go up before my October trip, I'll be happy.
now : 1 euro = 53 bht
then : 1 euro = 36 bht ( 1999, conversed from guilder our currency at that time)
long live the Euro and weakening bath and dollar
Ofcourse I go with other Falang, it's my job, but you are the only one I love :)
Hehe... what will weaken faster? The Baht or the USD? Like 2 planes spiraling to the ground... you gotta wonder which one will hit first...
AUD is strong as anything now... lucky us
Originally Posted by jimnbkk
Currency sites like XE.COM list the offshore trading price of the baht. That price can be significantly different (better/worse) from the "reality" of what you will get when you bring money into Thailand.
Kasikornbank is paying 33.39 for USD at the moment. That is a "real" figure (minus a 500 baht fee).
For those of you who care, and who use Yahoo Widgets, there's a good one called Asia Currency - http://www.softpedia.com/get/Windows-Wi ... ency.shtml
For the likes of WhiteDesire it's an orgasm every few minutes as the prices are updated from Oanda and although the default "home" currency is the US dollar, you can set that to be anything (mine's set the UK pound)
Tell me about this when it's 44.
I am no economist, but I have some familiarity with basic economics, and a "weak" currency basically says nothing about the state of the underlying economy. Lots of things cause rates to rise and fall, and one important factor is the government's desire to encourage exports. People who have dollar/sterling/euro incomes while living in Thailand may gnash their teeth when the rate goes against them, and celebrate when it goes in their favor, but their government is not thinking about them.
As one example among many, I have read numerous postings about the dollar going to hell, and the fantastic strength of the euro. Yet very few seem to recall that this very subject was topic #1 when Sarkozy visited Bush, and Sarkozy was, to put it mildly, NOT HAPPY. He regarded the "weakness" of the U.S. dollar almost as an act of theft -- as European economies lost steam and appeared to be heading for a recession, presumably due to an enormous drop in European exports.
Regarding the baht, I only have one "theory" that I watch: my former boyfriend blames vast government megaprojects for the falling baht in general. The current situation is interesting in that regard: the government's list of megaprojects now stands at around 1.4 TRILLION baht. Factor in political unrest, and I would bet five baht that we haven't seen the low point yet. More important, I would bet a whole bunch of baht by leaving my dollars as dollars for the next three months or so, while observing further developments.
But, unless something really terrible happens, I wouldn't expect to see more than 40 baht to the dollar. And there's always the possibility that the dollar will start getting stronger. Rates go up, and rates go down, and nobody knows what will happen in the future.
Once everyone piles on to one side of a trade it's time to start looking around for a different bet. The Euro is too high and the European Central bank is fighting the wrong enemy. Inflation is not a problem any more but de-flation is. Once their economy goes into the tank they'll realize the mistake and start lowering rates and then the dollar will jump.
And all this nonsense about Bernake "dropping dollars from helicopters"? Those dollars have all been sucked up by the big Black Hole of the banking crisis. The money supply which was growing at a 14% annual rate at the beginning of the year has hit a brick wall and is now only growing at a .5% rate.
But then, I might be wrong....... :dontknow:
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