Why Is The Thai Baht Strong?

[soju]

I have looked it up on the internet but still can't understand why the Thai baht is so strong.
Thailand is an export driven economy so would it not be in their interest to lower the value of the baht and increase exports?
Of course I am mainly interested in this subject because I would like more "bang" for my buck when exchanging currency, yet I am curious as to why is the baht outperforming most currencies?

[Rockheart]

Well the Canadian dollar has been on a steady decline against the Thai baht for years, only going down for 5 years or more.
However i think part of it is our relation to the US dollar which we have not done well against for a long time.
Mainly Canada's resource driven economy is really dependant on oil which is steadily in decline.
This very left wing government probably isn't helping the value of our dollar.

The US dollar had surged against the Thai Baht around 2015 and peaked in 2016 then it dropped quite a bit.
Just this year the US dollar seems to be surging again against the baht.
Some of the reason for the US decline recently may have been the rise of China in the region and Thailands shift towards them.
Now that Trump has tried to counter China and gotten North Korea in check.

Recently Thailand has been a model of stability in Asian compared to some of their neighbours.
The ruling Junta may not be known for their human rights but they have stopped all the political unrest that was present before.
Also they have gotten lucky with the amount of flooding and other disasters so manufacturing and rice production have not been hampered.
The price of rice seems to have hit highs in 2018 and that may also be increasing Thailands worth.
They have traditionally been the number one exporter of rice in the world, but recently India has battled them for that title.

https://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=rice&months=60

[George Pill]

Today one USD is 32.8351 Bhats. Hooray! When I visited LOS in 2013 it was 25. Back in 1972 when I visited it was 40. Still it's just numbers on a piece of paper. I still manage to spend $10K in 2 months. Having too much fun in more ways than none. Baht does increase during the Christmas season and drops right after that. Funny thing is items at Central Festival like crocodile belts and purses rise from 25% to lower 50% discounts on December 26. I suspect I will be receiving above B33 when I arrive shortly. Hope Central Festival will have the same bank selling Bahts like last year. Before that there were 3. Another problem is there's no B10 coins to be had. They will give you only dimes. Schmucks!

Funny I was talking to a real estate condo salesman in Central Festival about 2 years ago. I said Thailand has way too many coups. Almost one every four years. I said that Thai people are never satisfied with whatever government they vote for so maybe coups are better. Chan-Ocha may be a crooked general, but I prayed that he would be a good crooked President. He laughed. So far I may have been right. Western Democracy may sound all so grand and a wonderful form of government. But Asia is a totally different country. China has been around many more years than America with so many failed kingdoms and governments causing so many disastrous famines, wars, sufferings, chronic changes in government philosophies, and failures. Finally a guy named Mao arrives and his schtik is Communism. It is brutal form of government but eventually morphed into a workable economy thanks to Chou En Lai and Deng Zhiao Peng. Capitalism has become the new god. The formerly shameful crime has now become the new reality. It almost derailed with the Tiananmen Square Massacre but behind closed doors the government powers to be realized serious changes need to be made if they were to survive otherwise the country would once again die. They finally embraced Private Property to complement Capitalism. And it seems to be working. Everybody can now own homes and invest in second homes. China won't admit it, but it has become American. Still more kinks to work out like stop stealing proprietary ideas from foreign manufacturers, computer theft of banks, spying, etc. Trump is trying to get China to stop stealing manufacturing secrets and be kosher like everybody else in the world. He may very well succeed. The USA economy is the biggest in the world so it can weather retaliatory import taxes much better than China's smaller one.

Chan-ocha is still unpopular just like President Trump, but I think he means well. He makes funny jokes to the press like, "Why do you always ask me hard questions? Why not easy ones." "So what if my army friend Prawit has a collection of designer watches worth millions of dollars?" And "Think of me a President Happiness." Nuttily funny like our POTUS every times he opens his mouth. But really, under both men their economies are booming. They are doing something right and are convincing everybody to re-elect them. I was there when the colored (red and yellow) protesters were blocking the Asoke intersection weekly. They were doing it so often they hung up a huge bedsheet and showed movies and built stages to play music to entertain the masses. Plenty of food stalls with delicious delicacies to feed so many happy people enjoying the cool nights about town everywhere. So funny to see because I never saw anything like that before. Was worried there might be a riot with gunshots, but none happened and I was able to walk into Soi Cowboy chasing my favorite perversions every night. I was lucky to jet out at the end of my vacation when the protestors changed their mind about shutting down Suwanabhumi Airport just like they did before. Exciting to be in Thailand during coup season. Once you forget your preconceived fears of the ideas of coups anyone can enjoy Thailand. It's like the movie YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY.