• Thanong
  • ranking : Nation Staff
  • email : thanong@nationgroup.com
  • created : 2007-07-02
  • entry : 77
  • visitors : 38747
  • votes : 41
  • send msg :
Thanong
Thanong Khanthong
Permalink : http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/thanong
Monday , July 16 , 2007
Mini series on 1997 crisis (The End)
Posted by Thanong , Reader : 1084 , 22:02:17  
Print

Abandoning the Peg On June 25 or 26, 1997, at the Bank of Thailand's Fish House overlooking the Chao Phya River, Rerngchai Marakanond, the Bank of Thailand governor, and Dr Chaiyawat Wibulswasdi, the deputy governor, briefed Dr Thanong Bidaya, the finance minister on the baht crisis.Thanong was informed about the net foreign exchange reserves and the huge swap obligations.Dr Thanong BidayaAfter liste....


read more

Mini series on 1997 crisis (37)
Posted by Thanong , Reader : 556 , 21:30:12  
Print

The Baht Peg Was DeadTHE financial markets believed that the currency peg system was already dead in the water. "The basket peg exchange rate policy has outlived its usefulness, we believe. The forces of globalisation, in particular large capital flows, are too hard to handle with the basket peg. Thailand needs a more flexible monetary policy. We see an adjustment of the currency, brought about ....


read more

Mini series on 1997 crisis (36)
Posted by Thanong , Reader : 494 , 20:37:26  
Print

The Governor had The Last WordDr Amnuay Viravan, the finance minister, was willing to give the Bank of Thailand a benefit of the doubt. He held his reservation about the foreign exchange policy. As always, he would treat Rerngchai Marakanond, the governor of the Bank of Thailand, with respect. He would not overstep the turf."You have the last word,'' he told Rerngchai some time in June 1997. He ....


read more

Mini series on 1997 crisis (35)
Posted by Thanong , Reader : 498 , 20:32:29  
Print

Ivory TowerOn April 30, 1997 Ivory Tower appeared out of no where to warn about the looming baht crisis. He was in fact the highly respected economist by the name of Dr Ammar Siamwalla, who headed the Thailand Development Research Institute.He wrote an article in the Bangkok Post that further fuelled the debate on currency devaluation, adding to the polarisation of opinion on the managemnt of the for....


read more

Mini series on 1997 crisis (34)
Posted by Thanong , Reader : 496 , 20:28:55  
Print

Winning the Battle, But Losing the WarIT was clear to Michel Camdessus, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, and his IMF staff that Thailand was about to lose the currency war.Michel CamdessusAfter the mid-May battle, the Bank of Thailand would not be able to fight another battle. By this time it was clearer than ever that the currency peg system would not hold. A more flexible r....


read more

Mini series on 1997 crisis (33)
Posted by Thanong , Reader : 362 , 18:07:32  
Print

Take it or leave itPaiboon Kittisrikangwal, the chief foreign exchange dealer of the Bank of Thailand, did receive several phone calls from the speculators through the local banks asking for a cease-fire.The hedge funds were trying to scramble for the baht to get their hold on the baht. The separation of the onshore and offshore baht markets hurt them badly.But Phaiboon’s reaction was stern. He would....


read more

Mini series on 1997 crisis (32)
Posted by Thanong , Reader : 622 , 18:06:36  
Print

“They kicked Our Butts”Stanley Druckenmiller, chief investment officer for Soros Fund Management, came out to admit that his fund’s baht speculation backfired following the creation of the two-tier currency system."They kicked our butts and they've taken a lot of profit we might have had," he said with rather a good mood in June 1997. "They did a masterful job of squeezing us out."....


read more


/1