Thread: Thai Baht Rates .

EUR to 32? Holly FOOKING SHIT !!!!

My prediction of 38 is looking a long way off ...

33.33 to eur??? Wtf??????

^ You forgot to short it?

Time to short the THB, how long can that circus go?

^ Coward

Thailand’s Surging Baht Shatters Expat Dreams of Easy Retirement

By Randy Thanthong-Knight and Yumi Teso (Bloomberg) October 4, 2019

• Thai currency is strongest performer in Asia this year
• Nation popular with foreign retirees but baht is hurting

Brian Maxey moved to Thailand from the U.K. expecting his sterling pension to afford him an easy retirement. Instead, he’s finding it harder to meet his visa’s financial stipulations because of the strong baht.

The former aircraft technician easily bought a townhouse, pickup truck and motorcycle when he arrived at the age of 55 two decades ago. Back then the pound bought about 60 baht, but now it fetches a little less than 38 baht.

“It was a cheap place to live then,” Maxey said in an interview in the coastal city of Pattaya, which is popular with European retirees. “It’s not anymore.”

The pressure on foreign pensioners is just one example of how the baht’s sharp appreciation is rippling through Thailand. The currency is the world’s top-performer against the dollar over five years, hurting export competitiveness and putting the economy on course for the weakest growth since 2014.

The Thai government issued almost 80,000 retirement visas last year, a climb of 30% from 2014. To qualify, foreigners must show a deposit of 800,000 baht ($26,176) in a Thai bank or have a monthly income of 65,000 baht. Another route is to have income and deposits totaling 800,000 baht combined.
Britons accounted for the largest number of retirement visas in 2018, Immigration Bureau data shows. They were followed by Americans, Germans, Chinese and Swiss pensioners seeking affordable, sun-dappled golden years.

Once best known for crashing and sparking the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the baht is today seen as a haven by global investors. A trade surplus and annual foreign tourism receipts exceeding $60 billion underpin its resilience.
The currency has appreciated more than 6% against the dollar so far in 2019, the best performer in a basket of Asian economies tracked by Bloomberg.

It’s likely to stay resilient, said Masakatsu Fukaya, an emerging-market currency trader at Mizuho Bank Ltd. in Tokyo. There could be more upward pressure if firms relocate production to Thailand to skirt U.S. tariffs on China-made products, according to Fukaya.

Some pensioners are already voting with their feet, according to Niels Colov, who moved from Denmark about 40 years ago and helps to organize a club for expats in Pattaya.


“There’s an exodus of foreigners from this area to Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines,” he said. “We’re talking thousands of people.”
Some of those remaining may have to cut back spending, said Christian Foerster, an Austrian who retired to Thailand 20 years ago.
“There’s an enormous change,” he said. “Everything is more expensive. But it’s about adjusting, adapting and living modestly.”

At the same time, the cost of living in Thailand remains lower than in developed nations such as the U.S. or in Europe, and officials continue to promote it as a retirement destination.
Baht strength leaves Pattaya retiree Maxey’s 1,000-pound ($1,229) pension far short of the minimum monthly requirement. As a result, he maintains the equivalent of a 22,000-pound deposit to satisfy the bank savings rule when renewing his visa.

“That’s a lot of money to hold in a bank account that you can’t touch,” Maxey said, while adding he wants to stay on in Thailand despite the difficulties as he’s settled in the country.

plenty of alternatives, and yet expats get stuck here by their own stubborn mentality

It's amusing how up themselves some people can get just because they've left.

how you are struggling with the high THB Cecilia? work extra hours, or do 'off the book' homework for call center boys

Originally Posted by cyrille

It's amusing how up themselves some people can get just because they've left.

nothing to do with upping yourself, only a marooned expat would feel that way, but more about common sense and not being stuck in only one place like old people in a small English village

Originally Posted by Dragonfly

more about common sense and not being stuck in only one place like old people in a small English village

Is it so much better to be back on square one in a small European country?

High Baht low NZD... Pretty happy at the moment with Xmas coming up

Edit: Oops, managed to post that in the wrong thread.

Originally Posted by lom

Is it so much better to be back on square one in a small European country?

granted, returning to a small English village full of chavs and old people could be defined as a nightmare and hell on earth

And still the pound falls...

What's the feeling, is a no deal, worst case, already built in to the worth (or lack of) the pound, or is it likely to fall even further?

Originally Posted by Mendip

What's the feeling, is a no deal, worst case, already built in to the worth (or lack of) the pound, or is it likely to fall even further?

The pound being able to hold at the current level is due to hope that a no-deal is off the table and Brexit with a deal will strengthen the pound slightly.
A no-deal Brexit will send the pound into free fall for a time and where it levels out is written in the stars, a revoke will have the opposite effect.

Going going nearly gone

CURRENCY	BUYING	SELLING
USD(L)	30.34	30.65
EUR(L)	33.28	33.55
GBP(L)	37.39	37.85
AUD	20.47	20.65