Baht moves in same direction as regional currencies, says BoT

BANGKOK, Oct 13 (TNA) – Bank of Thailand (BoT) Governor Tarisa Watanagase on Monday revealed the baht had now moved in the same direction with other regional currencies, but remained volatile.

Recently, she said, the baht had strengthened against the US dollar but not in a daily basis. The central bank had intervened to contain the volatility.

The strengthening of the baht stemmed from a depreciation of the US dollar, weakening of imports and exports, and higher gold prices.

The movement showed that a projection of the baht movement is not easy. So, persons involved with the currency movement should hedge against it.

“So far, around Bt60 billion has flowed into the Stock Exchange of Thailand. Still, there is no speculation on the currency movement.

“The foreign direct investment (FDI) for this year is close to that of last year. It has not decreased along with the global economic slowdown,” she said.

Regarding the loan demand by the SME business, she said, the central bank attempted to oversee lending to SMEs and wanted financial institutions to supervise the liquidity of SMEs. (TNA)