Product Description
The Baht is the currency of Thailand. It is subdivided into Satang. The baht, like the pound, originated from a traditional unit of mass. Its currency value was originally expressed as that of silver of corresponding weight (now defined as fifteen grams), and was in use probably as early as the Sukhothai period in the form of bullet coins known in Thai as phot duang. These were pieces of solid silver cast to various weights corresponding to a traditional system of units related by simple fractions and multiples, one of which is the baht. In , the government began to increase the value of the baht by following all increases in the value of silver against gold but not reducing it when the silver price fell. Beginning at . baht = one British pound, the currency rose in value until, in , a fixed peg to the British pound was established of baht = one pound. This was revised to baht in and then, after a period of instability, to baht in . During World War II, the baht was fixed at a value of one Japanese yen. From until , the baht was pegged to the dollar at an exchange rate of .8 baht = one dollar and at baht = 1 dollar until . A strengthening US economy caused Thailand to re-peg its currency at to the dollar from until July 2, , when the country was stung by the Asian financial crisis. The baht was floated and halved in value, reaching its lowest rate of to the dollar in January . It has since risen to about per dollar. The baht was originally known to foreigners by the Malay/Portuguese term, tical, which was used in the English language text on banknotes until . Our store has a great selection of T-shirts, caps, mugs and much more, all with designs inspired by the Isaan dialect and Thai language.
