Thai baht yet again emerging as an unlikely haven in developing Asia as optimism about the rebound in tourism sector grow after much quarantine-free visa program is reinitiated.
The strength of the Thai baht is relatively notable compared to other regional peers. Consecutively, Thai equities and bond saw $6.2 billion inflow in 2022, exceeding other regional peers.
Kobsidthi Silpachai, head of capital market research at Kasikornbank Pcl in Bangkok told Bloomberg, “There is talk that the baht is a bit of a safe haven,”.
“Thailand is a net creditor country for over 10 years now”, meaning it has more foreign-exchange reserves than external debt, he said.
According to Bloomberg, Thai baht has climbed about 3% against dollar this year beating all its peers. It inched up to 32.30 THB/USD on Tuesday marking the strongest since September.
Kobsidthi says baht could rise to 32.34 this week.
