Baht Weighs Heavy On Brits & Aussies

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Undaunted
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Baht Weighs Heavy On Brits & Aussies

Post by Undaunted »

Pound tumbles expats and tourists feel the pain:

https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/expats/ ... -thai-baht
"In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king"
fountainhall

Re: Baht Weighs Heavy On Brits & Aussies

Post by fountainhall »

Sterling's continuing decline is certainly hitting me as I have no doubt it does many others. From 41/42 baht in mid-May it is now 37.4. But even that does not give the full picture because for years before May 2016 it had been hovering around 50. It is certainly no accident that the start of the fall was immediately after the unexpected Brexit referendum vote. The recent further fall results from Boris Johnson's determination to follow a no deal Brexit path. The sterling/baht exchange rate is now below where it was prior to the Asian Economic crisis.

Nothing illustrates more the need for anyone considering a move to live in Thailand to diversify the currency of their investments.
fountainhall

Re: Baht Weighs Heavy On Brits & Aussies

Post by fountainhall »

I should have added this graph to the previous post.

Image
belg0001

Re: Baht Weighs Heavy On Brits & Aussies

Post by belg0001 »

Euro did fall from 38.58 to 34.06 in 1 year. Brexit is certainly a factor for the decline of the GBP, but not the only one…. All European countries are very much dependend on export , and the problems in the US and China do weaken the Euro and GBP.
Jun

Re: Baht Weighs Heavy On Brits & Aussies

Post by Jun »

fountainhall wrote: Thu Aug 01, 2019 8:36 am Nothing illustrates more the need for anyone considering a move to live in Thailand to diversify the currency of their investments.
You beat me to it for once !
I would like to think that most people of a certain age have seen currencies move all over the place and might also be aware of the long term decline of the pound. Graph below is up to 2016. With all the existing evidence, I would hope affected people have been diversifying for some time (well those who control their own pension or investments).

Image

Regarding Brexit:
1 To have any kind of negotiating position with the EU we need to have the OPTION of a no-deal, with 10% tariffs on all those German cars and not paying the obscene £39 billion divorce bill.
2 One would think the pound might fall further with increasing uncertainty. However if we ever get Brexit resolved and the marxist opposition are proved unelectable, then there might just be a recovery in the pound.

[Not sure why the last part is in italics -this is not intentional]
fountainhall

Re: Baht Weighs Heavy On Brits & Aussies

Post by fountainhall »

Frankly I don't much care what Johnson''s tactics are except where they affect sterling and its major drops. His stupidity actually affects tens of millions of people in the UK who will have to pay more for the large number of imported goods into the UK, millions of people's overseas holiday plans by making them more expensive and the affect on more than 1.5 million UK citizens living overseas, most with a UK pension.

The latest drop was a direct result of his saying one thing to the First Minister of Scotland which directly contracted what the very senior member of his cabinet responsible for no-deal Brexit planning was telling reporters in Westminster at exactly the same time. He is no leader. He is a sycophantic, narcissist who cares only for his own personal glory. He cannot even lead his own chosen cabinet to ensure that they speak in one voice. Is it surprising that his ill-chosen and undiplomatic comments result in sterling having dropped considerably since his election - an election by a minute fraction of the UK population? He is a joker. And with the current rise in feeling in Scotland and Wales to leave the UK, could the former Prime Minster Gordon Brown be right in saying that he will be the last Prime Minster of the United Kingdom before it breaks apart?
Jun

Re: Baht Weighs Heavy On Brits & Aussies

Post by Jun »

With an underlying large balance of trade deficit and an economy built on debt, why should the UK expect a strong currency ?

BJ's negotiating position is just some short term noise compared with the real long term issues.
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Re: Baht Weighs Heavy On Brits & Aussies

Post by gerefan »

I have already transferred funds into my Thai Bank account for my next trip in November!

The trip will last until late February (nearly 7 months from now) so I’m hoping that the 37.4, per GBP that I got, was a good move.
fountainhall

Re: Baht Weighs Heavy On Brits & Aussies

Post by fountainhall »

I'm sure it was! But what about the trip following that? Will the £1 have dropped to 34 or even 30? Some pundits are saying that the day sterling will be at parity with the US$ is not far off if Boris Johnson gets his way. I don't remember it ever getting that low except during Thatcher's reign in the 1980s when she had to go cap in hand to the homophobic Sultan of Brunei to bail Britain out.
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