Thai Baht - THB

The National currency of Thailand since the 40s (even if the origin of this currency is older and dates back to the XIX century), is the Thai Baht (THB). It was first linked with the American dollar by a fixed parity of about 1 USD = 25 THB.

The recent history of the fluctuations of the Thai Baht that freely floated against the other currencies in the 90s, knew a burst of the Thai “real-estate bubble” in July 1997 that caused a financial crash that spread in all of Asia.

In just a few days, speculators massively sold the Thai currency which quickly lost nearly half of its value.

During 1997, we went from an exchange value of the USD/THB of about USD/THB = 30 to USD/THB = 60 (100% depreciation of the THB).

In order to stabilize its currency, the Central Bank of Thailand decided to strictly manage the trading on the Baht, in particular by providing the traders from keeping their “short” positions.

These measures had been strengthened after the coup d’état (supported by the Thai monarchy) that took place in the Fall of 2006.

The exchange value of the USD/THB cross regained levels next to USD/THB = 40 from the beginning of 1998, then it increased again (but in a more moderated way than during the crisis) to reach levels of USD/THB = 45 during the year 2001 (USD/THB = 45.7666 in July 2001, the highest point reached during the crisis in 1997).

The USD/THB exchange rate slowly decreased again (and the Baht re-appreciated) under the control of the Central bank of Thailand, until USD/THB = 28 at the beginning of 2008.

Today the Thai Baht seems to be more difficult to trade, and it is at a rate of USD/THB = 33.38 as of November 2009.