Revision 89761 of "Baht" on enwiki

The '''baht''' (บาท, symbol ฿, [[ISO 4217]] code THB) is the official [[currency]] of [[Thailand]]. The issuance of currency is the responsibility of the [[Bank of Thailand]].  It is divided into 100 satang.  As of [[January 1]], [[2005]], there were 52.6667 Baht to the [[Euro]], 38.9099 to the [[United States dollar|US dollar]], and 74.6860 to the [[Pound sterling|British pound]].  The value tends to hover around 40 to the US dollar.

[[Coin]]s in circulation [http://www.trd.mof.go.th/template.php?selectedMenuIdx=5&targetURL=/currency/circulation_text.htm] - link is in [[Thai language|Thai]]
*25 satang ([[brass]])
*50 satang (brass)
*1 Baht ([[cupronickel]])
*5 Baht (cupronickel with [[copper]] rim)
*10 Baht (bimetallic; [[brass]] center, cupronickel exterior
[[Banknote]]s in circulation [http://www.bot.or.th/bothomepage/BankAtWork/Banknotes/Issue/Issue_1/Data/current_series_e.htm]
*10 Baht - Orange (becoming rare)
*20 Baht - Green
*50 Baht - Blue (Polymer version being phased out)
*100 Baht - Red (New bills as of 2005 have silver security strip)
*500 Baht - Purple (With security strip)
*1000 Baht - Grey/Brown (With security strip)

Many commemorative 10 baht coins have been made for special events.  Even though the satang-denominated coins are [[legal tender]], small shops usually 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 depicted on each of the banknotes.

Baht is also a unit of gold measure and is used commonly in jewellers and goldsmith in Thailand, 1 baht = 15.244 grams. (15.244 gram is used for "raw" gold or bullions, in case of jewelery, one baht should be more than 15.16grams)

==History==
The present decimal system, in which one baht = 100 satang (สตางค์), 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 fixed on a purely silver basis, but as the value of silver fell relative to gold-fixed currencies, the fixing was changed. From the lowest rate of 21.75 tical per [[Pound Sterling]] it could be raised to 17 tical per pound. In the same year, 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

One leftovers from the pre-decimalization system, the 25 satang (1/4 baht) is still colloquially called 'salueng' or 'salung' (สลึง). It is occasionally used for not exceeding 10 salueng or 2.50 baht. A 25-satang coin is also sometimes called ''salueng coin'' (เหรียญสลึง, pronounced 'lian salueng').

==Exchange rates==
Since [[World War II]] until [[1980]] the Baht was fixed to the [[US Dollar]] at an exchange rate of 1$ = 20 baht. It then slowly decreased in value, and was again pegged to an exchange rate of 25:1 from [[1985]] until [[July 2]], [[1997]], but then due to the [[Asian financial crisis]] it halfed its value, with the lowest rate of 56:1 in January 1998. It stabilized again at a rate of about 40:1, which it kept since then.

==References==
*Cecil Carter eds., ''The Kingdom of Siam 1904'', reprint by The Siam Society 1988, ISBN 9748298132 - Chapter X ''Currency and Banking''

==External links==
* [http://www.bot.or.th/bothomepage/BankAtWork/Banknotes/Issue/Issue_1/Data/current_series_e.htm Current Series of Banknotes in Circulation]
* [http://www.trd.mof.go.th/template.php?selectedMenuIdx=5&targetURL=/currency/circulation_text.htm Current Series of Coins in Circulation] (in Thai)
* [http://www.trd.mof.go.th/indexeng/eng/coins.html The Royal Thai Mint]
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