The TT buy rate for the GBP reached the dizzying height of 50.0125 at Kasikorn Bank at the end of trading in Thailand today, the first time it has been over 50 as a “buy rate” since 15th May 2012.
The GBP/THB TT buy rate has now increased from its low this year on 22nd April of 43.47 by 6.54 to 50.01 today, an improvement of 15.0%.

Much of the improvement is due to corrections taking place with the value of the Baht which has been rather overvalued and distorted since western central banks started really screwing up Asian currency values, commodity prices and inflation with QE, the prospect of "tapering" is starting to restore some sanity to currency.

It should be noted that a few own goals such as the costs of the rice scheme and the increased household indebtedness caused by the new car scheme are also impacting on the value of the Baht.

Sending additional monies over today for further spending down Bangers way and a tad more in Udonsville. Have to see how bad the rubber protesters become to add more woes onto the Baht

The TT buy cost has now reached 50.24 (still a far cry from when its average was over 70 back in 2004 and 2005).

The exchange rate movements this year and their impact on some expats have been quite dramatic.

There are few areas where this is more apparent than when looking at the cost in pounds of the basic 800,000 Baht retirement visa requirement (not everyone wants the intrusion into their private lives, the bureaucracy and all the hoop jumping that the 400,000 marriage visa requires).

At its worst this year the cost reached 18,437 GBP, at the time of writing that has now fallen by 2,515 GBP to 15,922 GBP (which is still approximately three times larger than the basic UK state pension), while that fall in cost is obviously to be welcomed, spare a thought for those who first came in 2004 who still face a cost increase of 5,001 GBP (when compared to the average cost in 2004 of 10,922GBP).

This is a chart and the data showing how the 800,000 Baht visa cost in GBP has changed since 2001 to 2013, please note that 2013 data is shown in the final three columns, the first being the average for January to August this year and the second and third (the two shaded columns) showing the dramatic difference between the worst cost this year and the cost now.

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  Click on image to expand to a more readable size.
  
  Apologies for the chart and data needing a bit of studying to understand, but I don't know of any easy way of providing accurate information relating to some thirteen different years

JimboPSM wrote: At its worst this year the cost reached 18,437 GBP, at the time of writing that has now fallen by 2,515 GBP to 15,922 GBP (which is still approximately three times larger than the basic UK state pension), while that fall in cost is obviously to be welcomed, spare a thought for those who first came in 2004 who still face a cost increase of 5,001 GBP (when compared to the average cost in 2004 of 10,922GBP).

May I ask, what a retired man that does not have 20k+ in spare cash, was doing all his working life?

OT......................

old-timer wrote:

JimboPSM wrote: At its worst this year the cost reached 18,437 GBP, at the time of writing that has now fallen by 2,515 GBP to 15,922 GBP (which is still approximately three times larger than the basic UK state pension), while that fall in cost is obviously to be welcomed, spare a thought for those who first came in 2004 who still face a cost increase of 5,001 GBP (when compared to the average cost in 2004 of 10,922GBP).

May I ask, what a retired man that does not have 20k+ in spare cash, was doing all his working life?

OT......................

Having 20k may be ok for someone who only plans to retire to Thailand for one year then die, but for those who plan on staying a little longer, 20k is way too little.

Following the 2008 financial meltdown there are fewer and fewer people who have anything like the combination of savings and pensions needed to even meet the marriage visa requirements, never mind the retirement visa.

In my opinion, it needs a combination of pensions and savings that together can produce as a minimum:

• 1. An annual income of at least 10,000 GBP until the age of 90 (assuming a marriage visa and the GBP/THB exchange rate not falling below 40 and, of course, Thailand not increasing the visa requirements) or
  
  2. An annual income of 20,000 GBP until the age of 90 (assuming a retirement visa and the GBP/THB exchange rate not falling below 40 and, of course, Thailand not increasing the visa requirements).
  
  These figures make a number of assumptions about lifestyle (as this is a family forum I will leave those assumptions to the imagination) and the increasing costs related to health as we get older.
  
  One point that I will make is that in later years monies that might have been expended on entertainment in the earlier years will, as the years go by, almost certainly be replaced by monies spent on health.

While there are quite a few westerners who can and do comfortably get by on quite a bit less than 400,000 THB per year, there are many more who would not be able to adjust to or want the lifestyle that goes with it.

JimboPSM wrote:...... spare a thought for those who first came in 2004 who still face a cost increase of 5,001 GBP (when compared to the average cost in 2004 of 10,922GBP).

Thats me Jimbo.....and now you are telling me I will have to keep going on 20k GBP till I'm 90 !!! OMG

Well some two months has passed since the GBP/THB TT buy rate reached the dizzying heights of 50 and since then the rate has demonstrated the stability of a (slightly) drunken sailor.

However it had, at the close of business yesterday the GBP/THB TT buy rate at Kasikorn Bank rose to an absolutely whopping 50.5 an improvement of all of 1% since the OP, its highest level since 9th August 2010; for those who like a bit of precision the actual rate it rose to was actually a gnat’s whisker lower at 50.49875. Other major Thai banks closed at similar figures.

This is an update to the chart in the OP showing how the rate has moved since its low on 22nd April this year:

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For a bit of additional perspective here are some more charts, firstly a chart showing the crazy roller coaster ride in relation to the opening value on 1st January 2013:

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... and secondly a chart showing the TT buy rate since July 2010:

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thats good. i got 5,000 stirling to change and been waiting for it to clear the 50 mark,possibly a bank visit tomorrow then

Just hope the exchange rate can hit the dizzy heights of 52 then I will cash in enough to repay people I have borrowed from [-o<
My word is my bond

Any clues re the US currency,hold on or convert to baht

Another sure sign that the UK economy is on the up came today in Tesco Lotus where staff in the Gold shop smiled and acknowledged me after blanking me for the past four years !
Hopefully us Brits will soon be back as the "most desirable",where we belong !
Even chaps who struggle to get a girlfriend over here,like Manchester City supporters,may find things improving in the not too distant future !

GBP 51 today ... nearly there pomps so dont forget that 500 bt un secured loan from 2009 ok ... my word is your bond !!

Yeah,everybody should start the New Year with a clean bill of health,pay back all your outstanding loans,whether it is 1 pound or 5000 pounds =D>

Well, little more than a week has passed since I posted that the GBP/THB had risen a whopping 1% over the previous two months to get to 50.5......... and now it has risen by an even whoppier 2%

One has to hope that it does not start to suffer from vertigo having reached 51.51 mid morning in Thailand [-o<

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Boom time here with North Sea Oil on the up and up !

Only a few years ago they were telling us that it would be done in 10-15 years !

My old man reckoned fuel will be going down a bit due to them agreeing a deal to open the taps in the middle east , cheaper fuel is bound to help the UK economy growth ????

Exchange rate onwards and upwards,ready to get the money sent over,how much higher can the pound go,55 baht to the pound

pompui wrote:Exchange rate onwards and upwards,ready to get the money sent over,how much higher can the pound go,55 baht to the pound

I really think the question is, how low can the baht go, that's what's driving the exchange at the moment. The answer to that depends mainly on what's happening out on the streets, and its not looking good for anyone but us Farang right now . :-"

Through the 53 barrier now.

http://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/con ... GBP&To=THB

Keep going!

The movement yesterday took the GBP/THB rate to its highest level in nearly four years (or more precisely, since 29th January 2010).

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The following chart gives some indication as to how dramatic the downs and ups have been for this year; it is based on the GBP/THB rate on 1st January 2013 and gives a simple visual indication of how the rate fell below and then rose back above the opening rate for the year.

It is noteworthy that in just under eight months from its low on 22nd April of 43.47 the GBP has actually risen 9.53 Baht to 53.00, just shy of 22% much of this movement was due to the degree that the Baht was very substantially overvalued in the early part of the year rather than the improvement in UK economic performance which, by no stretch of the imagination, could ever be called dramatic

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The scale of this more apparent when viewed in terms of the cost of how the 800,000 Baht visa requirement has changed during the year; from its most expensive in April at £18,524, it has fallen £3,431 to £15,093.

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While that may seem pretty good, to put it into perspective it should be remembered that in 2004 that cost was over four thousand pounds less at £10,922, here is a chart and data showing how the average annual cost of 800,000 Baht has changed since 2001.

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Even after the quite dramatic fall that has taken place since April I am still of the opinion that the THB remains overvalued, however that is still more than offset by a degree of positive sentiment in the financial markets that I am really struggling to comprehend

As we have all seen markets are driven far more by sentiment than value - until the forces of economic gravity can be resisted no longer and the rose growing material hits the fan

Correction, in the second chart above the net increase for the GBP/THB rate should have been 4.08 not 4.10

This was as a result of me being inconsistent in the use of rounding in calculations in the relevant spreadsheets and my failure to verify that the numbers once “rounded” still added up