Thailand is pinning its hopes on a tourist recovery next year

Prior to the pandemic, the Thai baht was the strongest currency performer in Asia. It is now the worst, after a third wave of virus infections has quashed all hopes of a quick revival because of the loss of international tourist dollars. The Japanese Mizuho bank noted that the underperformance of the baht was “uncharacteristic”: the Thai currency has plunged 10 percent against the US dollar in the last twelve months. Even more against the UK pound.

The huge current account surplus of US$40bn reported before the pandemic has now turned into a US$2.2bn deficit which Asia research for ANZ bank in Singapore described as “unprecedented.” Fueled by the more dangerous Delta variant, known cases of infection are already 20,000 plus daily with no sign the spike is ending. There are semi-lockdown restrictions on work, travel and…