International reserve skyrockets

BANGKOK, 20 September 2009 (NNT) – Thailand’s international reserve has soared to 136 billion USD in one week due to the central bank’s buying of US dollars to control the baht value.

The Bank of Thailand (BOT) reported that the country’s international reserve as of 11 September had increased by 2.2 billion US dollar or about 74.8 billion baht from the past week. The bank said the rising reserve was a result of its policy to prevent the baht from appreciating more than 34 baht against USD.

The foreign currency forward exchange is currently 14.1 billion USD or about 479 billion baht, increasing by 600 million USD or about 20.4 billion baht from 13.5 billion USD in the previous week.

The BOT explained that the buying of US dollars in the forward exchange market had reduced the US dollars in the market and prevented the baht from appreciating too fast.