“He [the dealer] said it’s already going down; you’re not going to get a better deal on Asok,” said the expat, who works as a consultant in Bangkok. He put the cash in a giant envelope which he put into
his carry-on bag and boarded a plane to Cambodia, where he exchanged another 300,000 baht with a Chinese dealer. The money was put in a fixed term deposit at a local bank, where he is getting 4.75% in annual interest.
While it may seem like an extreme example, Jeremy is among a group of professional expats who earn their salaries in Thai baht and are transferring their money overseas for fear that the baht may further depreciate.
“It’s a serious problem,” said Jeremy, who has seen his salary drop by 30% in value compared to two years ago. “Imagine if you have savings in Thai baht: you need to be earning either a 30% gain on the stock market to even it up or else you’re going to be losing a sizeable chunk of your income.”
Last week, after the Thai currency slipped beyond the 36-mark against the US dollar to hit a six-and-a-half-year low, analysts started to wonder how low it will go, and whether or not the government has control over the situation.