Thai Baht at 7-Year Low as Investors Shift toward Greenback in Speculation of Fed’s Rate Hike

Thai baht briefly hit 36.49 baht against a dollar in today’s trading session, its lowest since 2015, as the Thai central bank said that there is no plan for an urgent rate meeting amid rising inflation around the world. The next meeting will be on August 10, 2022.

 

Even with the announcement from the Bank of Thailand, saying that it will allow baht float in the second half of 2022, the currency of Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy is still depreciating.

 

Thai baht cannot rally against the greenback as U.S. red hot inflation in June of 9.1% that beat expectations led analysts into shifting their forecast for the Fed fund rate from a 75bp hike in July to 100bp hike instead.

The Dollar Index rose 0.61% to 108.61 points as of 16:05 BKK Time on July 14, 2022. The index has gained 1.34% in a week, 2.87% in a month and 13.11% so far this year.

 

The depreciation of Thai baht has broken its 36.40 resistance and is now testing the 36.70 level.