A decade on from the financial crisis of 1997, Thailand finds itself in the midst of another crisis, this time a political one. Although the economy has been suffering from a downturn in business confidence in the wake of the September 2006 military coup, Thailand's economic fundamentals are nevertheless generally strong. Indeed, rather than battling the markets to prop up the baht, the Bank of Thailand (BOT, the central bank) has been under pressure to weaken it. In order to do so, in late 2006 the BOT imposed controls on the inflow of capital. The baht now stands at a nine-year high of around Bt34.5:US$1 on the local market, and on the offshore market it has risen to Bt32.3US$1.