Thai Baht Decline Worries Market

This week the Thai baht sank to its lowest level in six years, as it flirted with the 33.80 marker to the US dollar.
What's concerning to the country's economic sector is the sharp rise in consumer and company debt.
For hoteliers and the property market the currency depreciation angle appears to be a mixed bag.
While hotels will be more affordable for foreign travelers, pressure will be exerted on those looking to increase average room rates and RevPAR.
More profound will be the certain impact on real estate, particularly the domestic sector with a tightening of loans to buyers and also development finance.
I was in Jakarta this week where the Indonesian's rupiah has pushed well past 13,000 to the US dollar and is continuing to be one of the region's most volatile currencies.
In a country that had just under 9 million international visitors and over 250 million domestic trips last year, the storyline is that more Indonesian's are now taking more domestic 'staycations' versus overseas trips.
Will Thai's follow suit? It remains early in the day but what most businesses are looking for is a sign of where the baht will stabilize by year end which looks to be in the band of 34 to 36 to the US dollar.
On the converse side, Thailand's exporters are seeing a renewed push with more competitive pricing on products sent overseas.
2015 continues to be the year of all things 'disruptive'.