Thai Baht and the dollar or British pound

[Andy22]

Hi everyone

I am going to LOS next Feb 2009 for three weeks. I have been watching the decline in the British pound exchange rate for the Thai Baht. Seriously considering buying my Baht now (probably get about 53 baht to the pound. I know this could result in a loss however, with the decline in the financial markets I can see the Thai baht dropping between 45 to 50 baht to the pound prior to next year and stopping there for a long time. The question I have is to anyone out there who understands the financial markets would it be better to convert my money to dollars and then exchange the dollars to Baht in Thailand ? for the dollar seems to be stable in Thailand.

Any advice would be welcome

Kind regards

Andy

[Tobias]

Originally posted by Andy22:
... The question I have is to anyone out there who understands the financial markets would it be better to convert my money to dollars and then exchange the dollars to Baht in Thailand ? for the dollar seems to be stable in Thailand.

This is a form of 'arbitrage', the practice of exploiting a price differential between two or more currencies.

The problem with that Andy is that the dear old British Pound has taken a pounding (no pun intended!) in recent weeks - especially so against the US$. A few months ago it was $2.00 to the £1.00, this morning it is just over $1.50 to the £1.00.

Where will these currencies be in a few months time? Impossible to say, if anyone knew the answer to that then they would be very rich indeed.

What would I do? I'd keep my poor GBP in my pocket and take pot-luck when it's time to exchange. The markets are in turmoil at the moment and have not settled, will GBP get weaker, perhaps - will it strengthen again? Perhaps

There is a risk in whatever you decide to do, the Political uncertainty in Thailand may cause problems in the Thai markets, the US Presidential elections may cause the US$ to weaken or strengthen, some more Eurozone Banks may get in to trouble causing the Euro to fall ... and Gordon Brown may get lessons from Paul Daniels to fix the UK's financial crisis!

[db1]

I did read on a web site somwhere that they (the Thai goverment) where going to devalue the baht by 5% to help with exports, anyone else heard this.

[Thaddeus]

Originally posted by db1:
I did read on a web site somwhere that they (the Thai goverment) where going to devalue the baht by 5% to help with exports, anyone else heard this.

The Thai Finance Minister requested a 5% devaluation..... but the BoT said "no"

[Steve-Pressman]

That would certainly be welcome news to me if it came soon as I am off to LOS on Sunday. it is already 20% more expensive compared to this time last year


Steve

[Steve-Pressman]

Here is a link here Devalue Thai Baht


Steve