BANGKOK, May 21 (Xinhuanet) -- Bank of Thailand (BOT)'s Governor
Pridiyathorn Devakula has conceded the central bank is closely
monitoring the movement of main currencies to assess the situation
and map out a way to deal with it.
   He said the U.S. dollar unusually weakens against other
currencies. The Japanese yen and Singapore dollar have
strengthened to hover around 125 and 1.75 to the U.S. dollar,
according to a report of the Thai News Agency Tuesday.
   Under the circumstance, the BOT needs to keep a close watch on
the movement of the two currencies and other main ones for the
next one or two days so it can assess the overall situation before
making any decision as it sees appropriate.
  "Our move to closely monitor the situation in the foreign
exchange market does not mean we plan to intervene in the baht
movement", he said.
  "We just want to assess whether main currencies continue to
appreciate further or depreciate to what it should stay. Then we
will consider and decide which policy should be adopted to deal
with the situation," he added.
   The BOT chief noted that the strengthening of the baht to
around 42.60 to the dollar at current is acceptable.
   He added the central bank has overseen the baht value with
regard to two key factors.
   Firstly, the local currency must not move in an unusual manner
against other currencies.
   Secondly, the bath must not be so volatile that exporters could
not adjust themselves to its fluctuation.  Enditem