Baht remains stable despite political turmoil, says BoT

BANGKOK, May 13 (TNA) – The baht has moved in a narrow range for the time being, although the domestic political turmoil continues unabated, according to the Bank of Thailand (BoT).

Wongwatoo Potirat, senior director of Financial Markets and Reserve Management Department, said the Thai currency has not fluctuated heavily at the moment since there remains a balance of selling and buying pressures from investors and exporters.

“Foreign investors have sold off some shares and bought dollars to a certain amount while local exporters continue waiting to sell the greenback. It causes an equilibrium and makes the baht move in a narrow range,” she said.

Ms Wongwatoo said the baht continued moving in tandem with other currencies in the region. Although the currency had occasionally deviated from the direction, it returned to move in the same range eventually.

Since early this year, the baht had strengthened by an average of 2-3 per cent, which is close to the movement of other currencies in the region.

Actually, she said, some Asian currencies such as the Korean won, the Malaysian ringgit and the Taiwanese dollar had appreciated by 6-7 per cent and hanged direction to depreciate somewhat,m showing that the currencies were much more volatile than the baht.

Asked whether exporters still had a competitive edge given the level of the baht and other regional currencies, she said Thailand's export competitiveness does not rely solely on currency movements.

Rather, it depended more on financial management by exporters who need to hedge against currency exchange risks. (TNA)