Thai baht
| บาทไทย (Thai) | |
|---|---|
Banknotes and coins of the Thai baht issued by the Bank of Thailand (15th series) | |
| ISO 4217 | |
| Code | THB (numeric: 764) |
| Subunit | 0.01 |
| Plural | The language(s) of this currency do(es) not have a morphological plural distinction. |
| Symbol | ฿ or บ. |
| Denominations | |
| Subunit | |
| 1⁄100 | satang |
| Banknotes | ฿20, ฿50, ฿100, ฿500, ฿1000 |
| Coins | |
| Freq. used | 25, 50 satang, ฿1, ฿2, ฿5, ฿10 |
| Rarely used | 1, 5, 10 satang (internal use in banks; not in circulation) |
| Demographics | |
| Date of introduction | 1897 |
| Official user(s) | Thailand |
| Unofficial users | |
| Issuance | |
| Central bank | Bank of Thailand |
| Website | www |
| Printer | Note Printing Works of the Bank of Thailand |
| Mint | Royal Thai Mint |
| Website | www |
| Valuation | |
| Inflation | 1.2% (2023) |
| Source | World Bank |
The baht (/bɑːt/; Thai: บาท, pronounced [bàːt]; sign: ฿ or บ.; code: THB) is the official currency of Thailand. It is divided into 100 satang (สตางค์, pronounced [sà.tāːŋ]; sign: st. or สต.). The currency was officially adopted 1238 and continuously issued since. Initially issued in the podduang form, King Rama IV decided to switch to flat coins in 1860. The baht was then decimalized in 1897, before which the baht was divided into 8 fueang (เฟื้อง, pronounced [fɯá̯ŋ]), each into 8 at (อัฐ, pronounced [ʔat̚]), and each into 100 bia (เบี้ย, pronounced [bia]). The issuance of currency is the responsibility of the Bank of Thailand. SWIFT ranked the Thai baht as the 10th-most-frequently used world payment currency as of December 2023.
The baht was defined as 15.16 grams (0.4874 troy oz) of silver or gold, which was exchanged at 16:1 ratio. This was the case until the decree of June 29th 1874 which switched the Thai baht to the silver standard, and again in 1908, converting the baht to the gold standard before being completely debased in 1962 with the halt in production of the silver baht coin.
The baht was pegged to the Spanish dollar from 1856 at a ฿5 to $3 ratio. It was then pegged to the pound at a ฿8 to £1 in 1880 and subsequently several re-pegging to a new ratio. The baht was then pegged to the US Dollar at a ฿20 to $1 ratio along with several re-peg. The baht was forced to float in 1997 causing the Asian financial crisis.