Baht

The baht (บาท, symbol ฿, ISO 4217 code THB) is the official currency of Thailand.

Paper currency includes 1,000 (grey), 500 (purple), 100 (red), 50 (blue) and 20 (green) baht notes. The brown 10 baht banknote has become rare. Ten-baht coins are brass disks in a (silver-coloured) copper nickel ring, and it has many commemorative 10 baht coins made for special events. Five-baht coins are copper nickel with copper rims. One-baht coins are copper nickel. The 50 and 25 satang coins are brass. Even though the satang coins are a legal tender small shops often don't accept them anymore. Older coins which are still in circulation only had the thai numerals, but the new design also has arabic numerals. All coins have a portrait of King Bhumibol Adulyadej on one side, the king is also depcited on each of the banknotes.

Table of contents

1 History 2 Exchange Rates 3 External sources

History

The present decimal system, in which one baht = 100 satang, was introduced in 1897 by king Chulalongkorn. However until the 1940s it was named Tical, then renamed to Baht. Originally the term Baht was a weight unit of about 15g, and was adopted because one Tical was equivalent to 15g of silver.

Until November 27, 1902 the Tical was on purely silver basis, however as the value of silver did fall relatively to the gold fixed currencies the fixing was changed. From the lowest rate of 21.75 tical per pound it could be raised to 17 tical per pound. In the same year 1902, on September 19, the first banknotes were issued, with denomination of five, ten, twenty, one hundred and one thousand tical. Coins in 1902 were

• Silver coins
  • Tical, 15.244 g
  • Salung (1/4 tical), 3.8 g
  • Fuang (1/8 tical), 1.9 g
• Copper coins
  • Song Phai (1/16 tical), 18.9 g
  • Phai (1/32 tical), 11.3 g
  • Att (1/64 tical), 5.6 g
  • Solot (1/128 tical), 2.8 g

Exchange Rates

Sampled on January 3 2004.

• US dollar = 39.30 baht
• Euro = 49.51 baht
• UK pound = 70.42 baht

External sources

• http://www.bia.co.th/siamesecoins.htm Ronald J. Cristal Siamese Coins from Funan to the Fith Reign
• Cecil Carter eds., The Kingdom of Siam 1904, reprint by The Siam Society 1988, ISBN 9748298132 - Chapter X Currency and Banking