Increased purchases of Thailand’s sovereign debt have driven the baht to its highest level in 16 years, reports Bloomberg (and pretty much everyone else).
Three days after Central Bank Governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul said that Thailand’s currency had begun to move “beyond fundamentals,” the currency climbed to the level of 28.56 to the US dollar, its highest since 1997.
This means that the baht has appreciated 7% in value this year alone. Compare that to the Chinese Yuan, at 0.8%, and the Indian rupee, at 1.9%.
Economists are blaming this latest raise in the baht’s value on foreign purchases of Thai sovereign debt, which have totaled THB2 billion so far this month.
