Thread: GBP exchange rate. Very poor.

If I could find a way to put 80% of my cash into a Chinese bank right now I would. Their currency looks safe to rise at least 20% over the next couple of years.

I'm beginning to understand why people put money under mattresses.

If anyone wants to put their money under mine they are welcome.

Euro still at 48 Baht onshore, that's not too bad.

Originally Posted by Spin

If I could find a way to put 80% of my cash into a Chinese bank right now I would. Their currency looks safe to rise at least 20% over the next couple of years.

Call this idea radical, but why not go to HK and open an Yuan account?

If you are scared of flying/agraphobic/chinese phobic, I believe you can do this by phone from Thailand with a counterparty bank, such as HSBC...

^ I looked into it before, the interest rates were crap and work permits for mainland China were needed etc etc!

Originally Posted by Spin

^ I looked into it before, the interest rates were crap and work permits for mainland China were needed etc etc!

See:

LEAD: H.K. to launch personal Chinese yuan banking services | Asian Economic News | Find Articles at BNET.com

I thought you wanted to capitalise on the forex appriciation, rather than worry about rates...?

Originally Posted by Bluecat

Originally Posted by English Noodles

Originally Posted by Bluecat

Geez, you can predict the bottom, you must be very rich...

He never said he could predict Anything, not the use of the word 'probably' in his post.

This is the problem here, selective reading or in this case, reading but not being able to understand what has been writen.

Noodles.

Ok, so I make a probable prediction also.
The Thai baht will bottom up at the level it was for years, baht 25/US$.

You may be right, but I think that anything more that 29.x would be too ruinous to the Thai economy. Many export sectors have said that they are loss-making below 35...

They were thriving when it was 25. One of the tiger economy...

Originally Posted by Bluecat

They were thriving when it was 25. One of the tiger economy...

That was BC (Before China)

Indeed.
Worrisome to say the least.
I mean for Thai economy and people living here...

Originally Posted by Luckydog

Why is the rate going down and down? It's under 66bht to the Pound now!

I do not see too much logic in currency movements - mostly. There are speculators and insiders (or both) making a lot of money. What had the slump of the GBP to do with anything when Soros brought it down? Just with speculation. What has the high gold price to do with anything? What goes up goes up until it falls again (like the stock prices not so long ago). The physical gold is not important anymore - just the speculative price. Same is true for oil.

The sad story is that most of these speculators sit in GB and USA and do not hesitate at all to bring economies down to make their profit. Behind them of course people in the government of those countries. It is a big business and if you know that the currency market has no regulation at all it is paradise for the speculation mafia. All this supported by the media. Germany had not so long ago a jobless rate of 13 percent (the Euro seems to be only Germany - better not talk about other countries in the media). The US one of about 5 percent. The jobless rate in the US was shocking - at least so reported in the media... New Zealand and Australia have a huge trade deficit - no word in the media. It is speculators, politicians and media working together... To me it is the biggest fraud organization in the world with a huge amount of money/profit involved - nothing more. And it is more than time that the world starts to see it like this and breaks this mafia up. Speculation with insider knowledge (and they have) is a crime.

Originally Posted by Spin

If I could find a way to put 80% of my cash into a Chinese bank right now I would. Their currency looks safe to rise at least 20% over the next couple of years.

This is no problem. Check out oanda.com or eversbank.com. There are many others. The downside is that for yuan deposits you do not get any interest payments. In addition to this it depends what base currency you have. For USD it might be a safer bet than for Euros. But to me the main question is how much fear are you ready to take for greed???

might have something to do with the £50 000 000 000 (yes, fifty BILLION) that that the UK gov has had to lend Northern Rock to prevent a run on UK banks.

Works out at around £7000 for every man, woman and child alive in the UK.

I'd rather have spent another £7k I haven't got on something useful like booze, ho's and scuba diving. Sadly Gordon Brown made the decision for us and so looks like we're gonna have to stay in UK and play at being poor untill we get a decent government that can unravel 10 years of economic mis-management.

Originally Posted by Zavier38

might have something to do with the £50 000 000 000 (yes, fifty BILLION) that that the UK gov has had to lend Northern Rock to prevent a run on UK banks.

Works out at around £7000 for every man, woman and child alive in the UK.

I'd rather have spent another £7k I haven't got on something useful like booze, ho's and scuba diving. Sadly Gordon Brown made the decision for us and so looks like we're gonna have to stay in UK and play at being poor untill we get a decent government that can unravel 10 years of economic mis-management.

well, the bonuses for those brokers who sold sub-prime (junk) mortgages has to be paid by someone - it's not going to be Morgan Stanley, is it

Originally Posted by Sir Burr

It's because of the UK deficit (it's big) and the expected housing slump (it's started) due to the sub-prime lending fiasco that is over-spilling from the US. This means that economic growth forecasts are having to be down-graded.

Every cloud has a silver lining.

I dont have or deal in large lumps of money but exist on 3 pensions ( 2 occupational and the UK O.A.P.)
Very rarely I transfer sterling to a Thai account from my offshore bank in I.O.M. The rate is absolutely shit!.
Without doubt the best way - for me - is to use my UK Debit card and draw cash as and when I need it from a Thai ATM.
Never can understand it but the rate in baht that i get doing this is always 1- 1.5 baht per pound better than the daily published rates - i.e Oanda etc !
Any ideas why ?

Nope but I do the same. also I feel safer keeping money in a UK bank than a Thai one for some inexplicable reason.

Originally Posted by Happyman

I dont have or deal in large lumps of money but exist on 3 pensions ( 2 occupational and the UK O.A.P.)
Very rarely I transfer sterling to a Thai account from my offshore bank in I.O.M. The rate is absolutely shit!.
Without doubt the best way - for me - is to use my UK Debit card and draw cash as and when I need it from a Thai ATM.
Never can understand it but the rate in baht that i get doing this is always 1- 1.5 baht per pound better than the daily published rates - i.e Oanda etc !
Any ideas why ?

Because Oanda is the offshore rate. What you get in Thailand is the onshore rate.
Or, simply look at it this way. Thai Baht is more valuable in Thailand than in the UK.

Originally Posted by Sir Burr

Originally Posted by Happyman

I dont have or deal in large lumps of money but exist on 3 pensions ( 2 occupational and the UK O.A.P.)
Very rarely I transfer sterling to a Thai account from my offshore bank in I.O.M. The rate is absolutely shit!.
Without doubt the best way - for me - is to use my UK Debit card and draw cash as and when I need it from a Thai ATM.
Never can understand it but the rate in baht that i get doing this is always 1- 1.5 baht per pound better than the daily published rates - i.e Oanda etc !
Any ideas why ?

Because Oanda is the offshore rate. What you get in Thailand is the onshore rate.
Or, simply look at it this way. Thai Baht is more valuable in Thailand than in the UK.

Right! Thanks !

Ant

You should try getting paid in USD !!!

Despite a 20% pay rise last year, I am still paid 10% less in THB terms than I was 2 years ago.

64.97 at Bangkok Bank at the moment.

^ Yes but you get paid approx. 40x more than me so swings-and-roundabouts. Which reminds me...

I'll be in BKK early next week, ask your wife now if you can go out and buy a poor GBP paid individual some drinks (although I'm not sure at this stage if it's just a day trip or not).

Mid market rates today for GBP were:

1.00 GBP = 60.5422 THB

Ouch, that hurts.

There's a really weird situation in the UK with the economic indicators. Officially inflation is at 2.1% but people's everyday experience is at odds with that. It feels like inflation is really more like 5-10%. British Gas are just about to put their prices up (again) by 15%, petrol costs more, train fares have gone up. SW Trains just put "slightly off peak" fares up by 20%! Food is also more expensive.

In other words it feels like inflation should be officially higher - and therefore interest rates should be following - but actually interest rates are coming down! It's bizarre.

It does look like interest rates will come down (which I wasn't expecting) - and that will mean a weaker pound as people pull out investment and seek a bank with a higher interest rate.

The most likely outcome now, given the weird things going on in the UK, is a further deterioration of the pound against the baht. Not what I was hoping for or expecting. Oh well. But I'm not sure anyone can predict rates with any certainty in this climate.

The official inflation rate doesn't include the price of oil.

Originally Posted by Sir Burr

The official inflation rate doesn't include the price of oil.

...Or pretty much anything that people actually buy!