ID :
113234
Wed, 03/24/2010 - 09:17
Auther :

BoT shrugs off impact of baht rise on exports

BANGKOK, Mar 23 (TNA) – Bank of Thailand (BoT) Assistant Governor Suchada Kirakul on Tuesday downplayed mounting concerns over the continued strengthening of the baht, saying the situation would not affect the export competitiveness because the currency had appreciated in the same direction with other currencies in the region.

Since early this year, she said, the Malaysian ringgit had strengthened most by 3.3 per cent, followed by the Thai baht by 3.18 per cent, the Indonesian rupiah by 3.17 per cent, and the Korean won by 2.68 per cent.

From early March until now, the baht had risen by 2.23 per cent, the fourth after the ringgit by 2.6 per cent, the rupiah by 2.5 per cent and the Korean won by 2.3 per cent.

Mrs. Suchada said the baht had appreciated because foreign investors had shifted their investment from low-risk assets to high-risk assets, particularly Asian stock markets including Thai bourse, as they believed
the global economy had recovered markedly.

Many foreign investors are putting more investment weight in the Stock Exchange of Thailand since they expected to get an average return of 4 per cent.

Since early this year, she said, the foreign investors had a net buy of around US$1 billion in the Thai stock market compared with $3 billion baht each the markets in Korea and India. (TNA)

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