(Jan 21): Top Thai economic officials sounded alarm over the baht’s surge to a five-year high, with the finance minister calling it a “very big concern” and the central bank chief saying that efforts to rein in the currency have had limited impact. The Thai currency is trading at around 31 baht per US dollar, close to its strongest level in five years. He said officials are trying to ease the pressures by boosting foreign investment and curbing speculative activity linked to gold trading. “We don’t have enough power to set the baht level, to make baht weaken like others want,” he said. Ekniti has worked with the Bank of Thailand to give the central bank clearer authority to oversee online gold trading in baht, a segment officials say has had an outsized impact on the local currency.

Source: The Edge Markets January 21, 2026 10:17 UTC