The financial crisis in Thailand...

[manarak]

BANGKOK, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Thailand will extend a full guarantee on bank deposits until 2011 to ensure financial stability and reassure savers worried about the global financial crisis, its finance minister said on Tuesday.

"The cabinet has agreed to extend the guarantee to August 2011 from 2009," Suchart Thada-Thamrongvech told reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting.

Thais have about 6.2 trillion ($177 billion) in deposits, all of which are protected under a state guarantee introduced in August this year and originally due to be phased out in 2009.

Bank of Thailand Governor Tarisa Watanagase has said Thai banks are strong and have no liquidity problems.

Suchart said the government had no plans to support the stock market at the moment despite recent heavy losses, which were line with other Asian markets <0#.INDEXA>.

"We can't do much to help the market because it requires a lot of money," he said. The main stock index .SETI has fallen 53 percent this year.

Instead, the government would focus on support for the manufacturing sector, in particular measures to help with jobs, Suchart said, without providing details.

On Monday, the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) said the global slowdown could cost Thailand a million jobs early next year and a 20-30 percent reduction in output.

The FTI said that would make it difficult for new entrants to the workforce -- about 700,000 each year -- to find jobs.

The workforce in Thailand numbers 20 million, most in agriculture but around 5.7 million in non-agricultural jobs. ($1=34.90 Baht) (Reporting by Trisanat Kongkhunthian; Writing by Orathai Sriring; Editing by Ed Cropley)

[Stogie]

Get ready for the 6 trillion dollar sucker punch!

[pacman]

Sad news for LOS but there was no likelihood of any other outcome.

Now we can expect many more to find their way to the bars & clubs looking to earn a living any way they can.

More P4P workers, maybe less tourists, this sounds like a recipe for disaster.

[PigDogg]

(manarak @ Oct. 28 2008,06:00) BANGKOK, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Thailand will extend a full guarantee on bank deposits

Does anyone know if ALL bank deposits are guaranteed?

Or just deposits of permanent residents as had been reported on other Forums?

And if only permanent residents, is one who has a retiremnt visa considered a permanent resident?

[robbo]

the prospects for thailand are not good,a great source of income to many parts are visitors/tourists we know this ..........these will poss diminish over the next year greatly. add to that its own financial crisis poss looming,internal politcal uneaseness,social division.....hmm

[robbo]

still anyway that fuckin thaksin is ok,sentenced to 2 years hes unlikley to be doing that and has enough money to buy the moon.............wonder where he got it all from?

[newatthis]

PigDogg, I was told recently by a fairly wealthy Thai that bank deposits are only insured by the government up to 1 million baht. It would be interesting to find out if it is only Thai citizens or if all account holders are covered. Different banks seem to have different rules to open an account. If I recall it right SCB required a retirement visa to open one as did others but I read conflicting stories on this matter on various websites.

[bigmick22]

the following in Today's Irish Times 9(think it originally appeared in Financial Times)

Thailand to barter rice for oil

THAILAND YESTERDAY said it planned to barter rice for oil with Iran in the clearest example to date of how the triple financial, fuel and food crisis is reshaping global trade as countries struggle with high commodity prices and a lack of credit.

The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation said such government-to-government bartering - a system of trade not used for decades - was likely to become more common as the private sector was finding it hard to access credit for food imports.

"Government-to-government deals will increase in number," said Concepción Calpe, a senior economist at the FAO in Rome.

"The lack of credit for trade could lead also to a resurgence of barter deals between countries," she added. Officials and traders noted, however, that Iran was not typical because the US-led sanctions against its banks meant the country was facing difficulties financing agricultural trade even before the financial crisis.

Bangkok's commerce ministry yesterday said it was sending a delegation to Tehran to discuss the barter deal. Thailand is the world's largest rice exporter, controlling a third of the global market, while Iran is one of the top 10 importers.

Last year Iran bought some 600,000 tonnes of rice from Thailand, but so far this year it has bought only 60,000 tonnes as it has waited for prices to fall.

The price of Thai medium-quality white rice soared to an all-time high of above $1,000 (‚¬ 798) a tonne in May but has since dropped to $660 a tonne.

[Guest]

Does all this doom and gloom mean that the Thai bhat will stop appreciating against the UK £? I am planning to retire to Thailand next October and the current situation is a potential disaster for me.

[bigmick22]

It means you should fill up a few tanks at the local shell station and exchange it for LB sex

half a gallon for LT?

[Anthony_Mustang]

(Bigyin @ Oct. 30 2008,04:40) Does all this doom and gloom mean that the Thai bhat will stop appreciating against the UK £?  I am planning to retire to Thailand next October and the current situation is a potential disaster for me.

And the high baht is a disaster for people who are/where thinking of investing in Thailand.

My ladyboy boy partner and I we have found a niche for a business at a certain tourist destination that is not being filled. No it's not a bar or anything related for the P4P scene.

However the strength of the baht is greatly adding to the the cost of starting it up. If this is happening to small investors like me the big boys would be staying away in droves until they can get a reasonable exchange rate.

[neil324]

Don't think they are helping the situation though, they are trying to un-offically peg to the Dollar by BOT selling the Dollar reserves and buying Baht. Now a strong Baht agaisnt a broad basket of curruncies is not good for tourism or exports. Also you have every man and his dog cutting interest rates fast and BOT are holding? Next year is going to turn nasty in LOS.

[rossco]

The sooner the world economy STOPS pricing in an unstable dollar the more stability will return to the markets.

US banking has shown itself to be lacking in self governance and control - time to rethink the base for any international negotiation. The Dollar is volatile and very well manipulated by insiders. When the US has world domination of Oil they will be more than happy to control the world.

Bush will go down as one of the most detested world leaders who got away with the biggest spin in history. Where were those weapons of mass destruction - in the US government!

[pacman]

The enemy was within all the time - the weapons of financial destruction were the greed of the banks aided & abetted by laches regulations, incompetent Federal Reserve Governor (Greenspan),
overarching Presidential ambition (Clinton) & the culpability of the auditors who failed in their duty of properly assessing risk.

A pox on the lot of 'em...

[dummy_plug]

(rossco @ Oct. 30 2008,20:06) The sooner the world economy STOPS pricing in an unstable dollar the more stability will return to the markets.

US banking has shown itself to be lacking in self governance and control - time to rethink the base for any international negotiation. The Dollar is volatile and very well manipulated by insiders. When the US has world domination of Oil they will be more than happy to control the world.

Bush will go down as one of the most detested world leaders who got away with the biggest spin in history. Where were those weapons of mass destruction - in the US government!

Unstable dollar? Break out your history books mate. The USD is the reserve currency of the world and will continue to be for a long time to come. Yes, the yen and euro have joined it to a certain degree, but that was inevitable with globalization. After all, you should never put all your eggs in one basket. However, over a long period of time the USD has been among the most stable of currencies by any measure and has been backed by the world's strongest economy. Don't look at events in the past 24 months and make a snap judgment of over 150 years of proven history of economic strength, resilience, and growth.