BANGKOK, 10 April 2013 (NNT) – Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has told the Bank of Thailand (BoT) and the Ministry of Finance to monitor the baht currency situation and give assistance to the affected SMEs.
BoT Governor Prasarn Trairatworakul said after a government meeting on the baht’s heavy appreciation that the prime minister was concerned about the problem and asked him whether the movement of the currency was considered normal. The central bank head said he answered Ms Yingluck that the currency did appreciate too fast and he would ask for cooperation from custodian banks in taking good care of foreign investors who might be affected.
Mr Prasarn also informed the premier that the appreciation was good for Thai importers but exporters, especially SMEs, might suffer income loss. He added that the central bank had called on commercial banks to assist SMEs in risk management through several methods, such as giving them advice on risk insurance.
The baht broke a 16-year record on 9 April 2013 when its value appreciated to 28.91-28.95 baht against the U.S. dollar.
