A lot has changed for the baht.

It was only months ago that The Bank of Thailand considered drastic measures to rein in the rambunctious baht , whose massive gains in currency markets made it the darling of speculators. In December Kasikorn Bank released a report outlining reasons the baht “will remain strong into 2020.” The bank’s research arm forecast the baht would move in a range of 30.1 – 30.5 baht to the US$ for the next few quarters at least. (As of today exchange rate is 32.83 US$ to 1 baht) They warned then that Thailand’s November export data would likely to be in negative territory, another victim of the “continuing strength of the local currency.”

Those days are gone, and the baht now looks to tumble further after the BoT cut interest rates to counter the impact of the Covid-19 coronavirus . The decisions came in a hail of announcements starting with an emergency rate cut on Friday night . The new measures are a further blow for the baht, which has already slipped over 9% this year, more than erasing last year’s gains. There’s also slowing economic growth and the worst drought in decades . And a delay in the government’s budget due to political wrangling didn’t help matters.

Friday’s move cut rates by 25 basis points to a new record low of 0.75%. It was the second reduction in as many months, coming ahead of today’s scheduled policy meeting. The policy committee has said the virus outbreak is likely to be “more severe” than previously thought and it will “take time for the situation to normalize.”

Only two weeks ago the government announced a massive stimulus package, well beyond its earlier Chim Shop Chai (Eat Shop Spend) programs, to “return growth to positive territory.” Policymakers went before the media, saying they’ll set up a mechanism to allow banks to use money market and bond funds for collateral to enhance liquidity and make funds available for companies to refinance corporate bonds.

The coronavirus has already taken its toll on Thailand’s newly-struggling currency, decimating the nation’s tourism industry, largely by reducing visitors from China, who alone accounted for some 3% of the country’s gross domestic product. Tourism revenue has slumped 43% in February from a year earlier. Furthermore exports tumbled 4.5% the same month, according to a Bloomberg report.

The BoT’s benchmark rate is now just a fraction above the level of inflation, putting Thailand on the cliff of joining the list of nations with negative real policy rates.

“The odds of a recession over the next 12 months have jumped to 30% from just 10% a year ago. Across Asia, only Japan has a higher probability”, according to Bloomberg surveys of economists.

While the number of virus cases in Thailand remains well below those in the world’s worst-affected countries, the recent spike suggests there’s potential for the situation to get a lot worse, meaning even more bad news for the baht. Yesterday there was an announcement of a state of emergency and the Cabinet’s approval of a 117 billion baht stimulus package.

SOURCE: Chiang Rai Times

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RIO Ferdinand rates wife Kate a 9 out of 10 teacher as a homeschool teacher

Rio , 42, praised his wife for being a patient teacher while admitting he can be “grumpy” when it comes to lessons with their kids, Tate, 12, Lorenz, 14, and Tia, nine, at their huge home in South East London.

He admitted his kids find him “stern” when he takes over from Kate , 29,  while discussing the new football-themed Numbers Game on the online education platform, Twinkl.

He said: “I have so much respect for what teachers do. It’s a hard job.

“The thing I’ve noticed is how intense it can be and how the teachers manage it all day and the pressures of managing all these different kids who have different ideas with the ways they want to learn.

“But one of the biggest things we’ve learnt to respect from teachers is their patience to deal with the kids.

“As a teacher I’m a three out of 10 because of my lack of patience. But Kate – I give her nine out of 10.”

The father-of-four admitted he is quicker to put his foot down if his “students” act up in his “class”.

He added: “I think I’ve learned a lot from Sir Alex Ferguson. I’ve not gone for the soft touch approach.

“It’s important to be disciplined with them during the school day, keeping on top of them.

“These are my own kids and I love them, but they can be difficult. You have to give them a bit of leeway but it’s important to follow the fine line.

“We were having dinner and Kate said, ‘tell your dad what you told me the other day’.

“They didn’t want to so Kate said, ‘sometimes you’re quite stern, hard and sometimes even grumpy'”.

Rio added: “They said it’s not all the time but during the daytime, and I told them that’s when you’ve got to be working and I can’t be seen sitting around and joking with you.

“I told them I am stern when they’re meant to be working.”

Kate was recently forced to hit back at trolls who an “offensive” claim that she could love her baby son Cree MORE than her step-children.

Although Cree is Kate’s first biological child, the beauty was already step-mum to Rio’s three children with late wife Rebecca.

The star has been open about her relationship with her step-children ever since she started dating Rio in 2017 – two years after Rebecca’s death.

In 2018, Kate admitted the kids used to tell friends she was their “aunt” when she picked them up from school at the beginning.

She added at the time: “Rebecca is their mum. You only have one and she is irreplaceable.”

Rio also asked his children’s permission to start a romance with Kate, and they played a key role in his 2018 proposal and the couple’s 2019 wedding.

Chiang Mai ranked as the 3rd most polluted city in the world yesterday, according to AirVisual, following Lahor in Pakistan and New Delhi in India. The northern Thai city’s was recorded to have an average PM2.5 dust level higher than 200.

All 4 air quality monitoring stations in the municipal area reported the PM as exceeding the safe level, with the deputy chief of an air pollution command citing some 928 hotspots detected across the nation’s 17 northern provinces.

In Tak province, its PM2.5 and PM10 ratings exceeded the safe level for 4 consecutive days, affecting people’s health and road visibility. Mae Sot district yesterday saw the PM 2.5 and PM10 measured at 114 and 171 µg/m3 with people being advised to avoid all outdoor activities and stay away from areas with high air pollution.

The governor of Tak says the province has initiated measures to prevent forest fires and to prohibit the burning of old crops for 2 months starting from March 1. Those who are caught burning or carrying hunting equipment will be charged by forest patrol officers.

The Department of Health Director-General says tropical storms in the northern part of Thailand would help reduce the PM2.5 in Bangkok, the Central Plains, the East and the lower North over the next few days. But some areas in the north, northeast and central plains may see more pollution due to burning in the country and smoke from neighbouring countries.

The Director advised people to protect themselves by wearing a face mask when going outside and follow air pollution news on the official website of the Department of Pollution Control.

According to IQAir, Chiang Mai’s air quality index is at 176, with the PM2.5 measured at 103.9 µg/m³, sitting at unhealthy levels.

Meanwhile, the PM2.5 air pollution was behind approximately 160,000 deaths in the world’s 5 most populous cities in 2020, according to a Greenpeace Southeast Asia analysis of IQAir data from a live Cost Estimator.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post

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