Showing posts with label Money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Money. Show all posts

Sunday 4 December 2022

Thai baht soars to six-month high against US dollar

The Thai baht opened at 34.78 against the US dollar today, strengthening from yesterday’s close of 35 to a six-month high.

The baht’s sudden rise is down to the Bank of Thailand’s (BOT) hiking the policy rate by a quarter point earlier this week.

The BOT remains committed to a gradual monetary tightening policy, raising the policy rate from 1% to 1.25% on Wednesday.

Economic growth this year is expected to be at 3.2%, lower than the prior projection of 3.3%, according to the central bank. The BOT also cut its 2023 growth forecast to 3.7% from 3.8%.

Thailand’s currency is facing pressure from the depreciating US dollar, gold sales, and foreign investors possibly buying more Thai bonds amid continuous drops in the US 10-Year bond yields.

Investors might want to sell the baht now as it edges near the support level of 34.75. Once it hits the support level, it could depreciate again.

Although, US labour data coming out this weak could impact the baht’s value. Low employment rates could help the baht but high levels of employment could weaken the baht, so it’s up to investors whether to hold out and see.

Krungthai market specialist Poon Panichpibool advised investors to use hedging tools in the highly-volatile currency market.

Economists have high hopes for the baht in the long run. Capital Market Research Specialist at Kasikorn Bank Kittika Boonsrang predicts…

“I expect the Thai baht to get a high that could be around 33.50 to 34.00 per US dollar by the end of next year.”

The forecast will only be achievable if Thailand pumps up exports and ramps up tourist arrivals, added Kittika.

Other regional currencies have also strengthened against the greenback amid hopes that China will ease up their Covid-19 restrictions.

Currencies have been highly sensitive to the Federal Reserve’s aggressive monetary tightening this year which was designed to fix high inflation rates in the US.


Source - The Thaiger

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Thursday 29 September 2022

Thai baht plunges to 38 against US dollar for first time in 16 years

The volatile Thai baht has depreciated to 38 against the US dollar even faster than foreseen by economists. The last time the baht reached 38 to the dollar was 16 years and two months ago on July 26, 2006.

The baht has hit the 38 mark even earlier than expected by the Head of Capital at Kasikorn Bank Kobsidthi Silpachai, who just a few days ago predicted that the baht would depreciate to 36.50 – 38 against the US dollar within the next month.

The baht’s depreciation is attributed to the rising strength of the US dollar. The dollar index has risen to 114, causing several currencies worldwide to depreciate. The US dollar continues to grow in value due to continued federal fund hikes.

The dollar has flown in 2022 amid the Federal Reserves’ aggressive interest rate hikes, Europe’s energy crisis, and China’s Covid-19 lockdowns. Cambridge University economist Mohamed El-Erian said the strength of the US dollar is bad news for the world economy…

“What is clear is we have this relentless increase in yields, this relentless appreciation of the dollar. They are both bad news for corporates and for the economy.”

Amid pressure from high inflation rates and the depreciating baht, Thailand’s Monetary Policy Committee will meet today to discuss raising the policy rate from 0.75% to 1%. The policy rate hike will increase interest rates between Thailand and the US with the goal of temporarily strengthening the baht and “supporting economic recovery.”

In the long term, Thailand is relying on the recovery of the tourism industry to strengthen the nation’s currency. K Bank predicts that the baht will rise to 35 to the US dollar before long as continually growing tourist arrivals pump money into the economy.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand predicts that Thailand will welcome a total of 9.3 million tourist arrivals in 2022.


Source: Bangkok Biz News / The Thaiger

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Wednesday 28 September 2022

Most in Thailand already using Digital Payments

Thai consumers are typically more enthusiastic about using digital forms of payments than the average for Asia, according to Mastercard.
Most Thai consumers have now gone digital when it comes to managing a range of personal financial matters, including paying bills, banking, opening new bank accounts and financial planning, a Mastercard survey has found.

Based on the Mastercard New Payments Index 2022, 81% of consumers in the country have used digital tools for at least one financial task in the last year, with paying bills (78%), banking (75%) and opening new bank accounts (64%) forming the top three.

The latest data on payment habits, attitudes and preferences was derived from a survey of 40 markets across five regions, including seven in Asia-Pacific: Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Thailand and Vietnam.

Interestingly, when it came to personal financial management, the survey found that Thai consumers were typically more enthusiastic about using digital forms of payments than the regional average.

This same enthusiasm extended to Thai consumers’ broader use of payments, with 94% having used at least one digital payment method such as digital wallets, QR codes, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), cryptocurrencies, biometrics and others in the last year, compared to the Asia-Pacific average of 88%.

As well, 80% of Thai consumers increased their usage of at least one digital payment method during the same period, demonstrating momentum.

“Although digitisation brings a broad array of benefits — greater access to e-commerce, more economic transparency, more security — in many ways it is in the everyday tasks where it makes a big difference,” said Aileen Chew, country manager for Thailand and Myanmar at Mastercard.

“In recent years, Thai consumers have increased their usage of digital payment options, often showing high engagement with new and emerging technologies. The survey results indicate that this comfort extends beyond payments, and now includes daily personal financial management, demonstrating the pervasiveness of digital technology in their everyday lives.

“This change is a positive sign for the continued digitisation of the economy, and will help to spur long term, sustainable growth in Thailand.”

When asked about their reasons for using digital methods to pay bills, convenience was the top response (85%) from Thai consumers, followed by the fact that it was seen as more secure or safe (61%), and that it gave consumers more control over their money (56%).

However, concerns remain about security, indicating an opportunity for service providers to offer consumers additional education and reassurance.

Thai consumers are also among the most enthusiastic in the region about using emerging payment technologies, with digital wallets leading (63%), followed by account-to-account payments (55%) and QR codes (54%), the survey found.

Also notable is that Thai consumers have been strong adopters of cryptocurrencies, with 25% using them to pay in the last year, compared to the regional average of 13%.


Source - BangkokJack

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Friday 23 September 2016

The difference between Thai and Chinese people


The difference between Thai and Chinese people.
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The main difference is that Thai people spend their money, and Chinese people save their money and invest in the future. (buy properties and rent out)
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Personally i think it is a part of the Buddhism with the Thai people, the keep the people stupid. (sorry to say that)
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1/ Chinese People:
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You see the work hard, always friendly, and save their money the make.
Buy properties which the rent out or later sale for higher prizes.
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2/ Thai People:.
Live by the day, and like to loan / borrow money for expensive things like, iPhones, Cars, Motorbikes, …….
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When the not can loan from the banks, the loan on the streets from the loan-sharks.
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Be continued: (I want give you some examples)

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Tuesday 1 December 2015

IMF approves China's yuan as elite reserve currency

Chinese Yuan

The International Monetary Fund welcomed China's yuan into its elite reserve currency basket Monday, recognizing the ascendance of the Asian power in the global economy.

 The yuan, also known as the renminbi, will join the US dollar, euro, Japanese yen and British pound next year in the basket of currencies the IMF uses as an international reserve asset.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde called the decision "an important milestone in the integration of the Chinese economy into the global financial system."

"It is also a recognition of the progress that the Chinese authorities have made in the past years in reforming China’s monetary and financial systems," she added.

The decision by the IMF executive board solidifies China’s ambition to see the government-controlled yuan achieve global status as one of the world’s top currencies alongside the United States, Europe and Japan.

China, the world’s second-largest economy, asked last year for the yuan to be added to the Fund’s Special Drawing Rights basket.

But, while already meeting the SDR criteria for being widely used, as recently as August the Fund considered the currency too tightly controlled to qualify.

However, IMF staff experts in early November said that Beijing had taken the steps necessary for the yuan to be called "freely usable", opening the way for Monday’s decision.
 Lagarde said the yuan’s inclusion in the basket was expected to help China open up further to the world economy.

"The continuation and deepening of these efforts will bring about a more robust international monetary and financial system, which in turn will support the growth and stability of China and the global economy," she said.

The unexpected devaluation of the yuan last August received good marks from the IMF as it expanded the currency’s movements based on market forces.

In addition, Beijing announced last week that an initial group of foreign central banks has been allowed to enter the Chinese currency market, which likely will promote further internationalization of the yuan in global trading.

IMF members can use the Special Drawing Rights basket to obtain currencies to meet balance-of-payments needs. The Fund also issues its crisis loans -- crucial to struggling economies like Greece -- valued in SDRs.

The yuan’s entry into the basket takes effect on October 1, 2016.

- Chinese challenges -

======================

China’s central bank welcomed the decision.

"The joining of RMB in the SDR basket also means the international community has greater expectations on China to play an active role in the world economic and financial arena," it said in a statement carried by the official Xinhua news agency.

It puts the Bank of China under pressure to provide more transparency in line with its peers, such as the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank.

"If part of their policy is to gradually liberalize the capital account and the financial sector, this is setting in motion a process of opening up that cannot be reversed," Angel Udibe, a financial markets expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told AFP.

"It really make the case at home that they need to continue with the process of liberalization."

The composition and weightings of the SDRs basket are reviewed every five years. The last time the currencies in the basket were changed was in 2000, when the euro replaced the German deutsche mark and the French franc.

The value of the SDR is based on a weighted average of the currencies in the basket. With the inclusion of the yuan, the dollar’s weight in the new basket will be little changed from its current 41.7 percent. The euro will be 30.9 percent, the yuan 10.9 percent, the yen 8.3 percent, and the pound 8.1 percent.

The inclusion of the yuan came with the support of the United States, the IMF’s largest shareholder.

Until recently Washington accused China of keeping the yuan artificially low to gain a trade advantage. But in October the US Treasury Department softened its tone, saying that after Beijing’s moves to loosen controls, the yuan "remains below its appropriate medium-term valuation."

Still, the IMF decision risks angering some lawmakers in the US Congress amid fierce maneuvering for the 2016 presidential election.

"With this decision, the IMF is choosing to reward China’s currency manipulation instead of combating it," said Senator Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat and longtime China critic.

"This decision is an affront to the millions of US workers who have lost their jobs at the hands of China’s rapacious trading practices, and sends a terrible signal to the rest of the world that currency manipulation is acceptable behavior in the eyes of the IMF."
Source: The Nation

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Tuesday 3 November 2015

Feathers fly over Thailand's lucrative cockfighting pits


The cry of roosters drowns out the roar of engines beneath a Bangkok flyover as all eyes are trained on two sparring birds, a bloody, high stakes battle in a country where cockfighting is big business.

The birds do not usually fight to the death, as in many parts of the world, but they can still inflict fatal damage to their opponents in contests almost always accompanied by lucrative gambling.

For the few dozen men surrounding a technically illegal but tolerated underpass ring, cockfighting is as much a generations-old Thai tradition as it is commerce.

"Probably it's genetic as my parents like cockfighting too," a 42-year-old electrician from northeast Loei province told AFP as he cradled his battered but still-standing "Little Red" at half-time.

Like most of the working-class men priming their roosters, the pony-tailed and tattooed man -- who withheld his name -- began cockfighting in his rural birthplace before bringing the hobby to the heart of the Thai capital where he now lives.

While they risk up to two years in jail for gambling at an unregistered ring, authorities routinely turn a blind eye to such activities. Thailand is dotted with much larger, official cockfighting stadiums that draw vast, big-spending crowds.

At the Bangkok Cockpit in Samut Prakan, a province on the outskirts of the capital, a 1,000-strong throng cheers on a pair of avian fighters whose necks are locked in combat as bets furiously exchange hands.

"We don't think it's violence as it's a kind of sport," said regular punter Suwan Cheunchom, 35, after winning 500 baht on a round which ended in a tie.

His prize is on the lower end of a betting spectrum in a nation where most forms of gambling are outlawed.

A few weeks later the same stadium raked in 22.2 million baht ($618,000) for a record-breaking bet, venue manager Banjerd Janyai told AFP.

In this lucrative industry "good fighting birds" can sell for more than $85,000, he added, with Thailand exporting cocks to neighbouring countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia and buyers arriving from as far afield as France and Bahrain.

Exploiting culture
Unlike in the Philippines, where roosters can be seen fighting with blades attached to their feet, Thailand's birds usually compete with their spurs wrapped in fabric.

The cocks are judged on their fighting prowess rather than their ability to kill, with proponents like Banjerd arguing such protections mean "there are not many injuries".

"It's a way to preserve ancient Thai culture and pass it on to our children," said the 50-year-old.
Champion birds attract a cult following like "muay Thai" kickboxers, with entire magazines dedicated to the bloodsport.

But some Thais are fighting for an end to the practice in a country where the concept of animal welfare is only slowly emerging.

"It's torture, from any point of view. But the people who get involved claim that it's the nature of the animal to fight," said Roger Lohanan, founder of Thai Animal Guardians Association.
Late last year Thailand introduced its first-ever animal welfare law after years of campaigning by animal rights groups.

The legislation bans "torture and cruelty towards animals" but exempts activities deemed part of the country's traditions such as bull and cock fighting.

Roger says profit-mongers are "exploiting culture" to make money at a time when most Thais agree cockfighting is outdated.

"There are a lot of influential people behind cockfighting," he says, who benefit though the gambling as well as the industry that has risen around it from the hormones used to plump the birds to the wicker baskets they are reared in.

The official view supports cockfighting as an intrinsic part of Thai culture.
"We've had cockfighting since ancient times, for more than 700 years," said Pitsanu Prapatananun from Thailand's Interior Ministry, which encourages raising the birds in local communities as a form of "extra income".


 Back at the underground ring, men suck out blood pooled in the necks of their fowls in between bouts -- a sign, the Loei electrician says, that shows how much they all care for birds they have painstakingly raised.

"We suck out the blood from the neck so it feels refreshed and better," he said. "

The longer he can fight the stronger and more valuable he will be."


Source: Coconuts

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