The currency of Thailand is known as baht, it is controlled by the national bank of the state and, in turn, is divided into one hundred satangs. It should be noted that until 1925 it had another name - tikal. As for the new name, earlier it meant a measure of weight, in which the value of coins made of gold or silver was determined. In the nineteenth century, each baht consisted of eight fuangs. The decimal monetary system in the state was proposed and introduced in 1897 by the local prince Mahisorn. From that time to the present day, it is used in the country. Three years later, old-style coins were completely withdrawn from circulation. An interesting historical fact is that the currency of Thailand until the beginning of the twentieth century was supported exclusively by silver. At this time, the cost of each baht corresponded to the price of fifteen grams of silver.
Baht in the twentieth century
In 1941, the state decided to issue coins in denominations of 5, 10 and 20 satangs. For their production exclusively silver was used. The fact is that nickel was used for the military needs of the country, because the Second World War was in full swing. Beginning in 1950, 20 satang coins were no longer issued, and new ones, in denominations of 25 and 50 satangs, replaced them. They were cast from an alloy consisting of bronze and aluminum. It should be noted that the currency of Thailand was minted for a long time without changing the date on the coins themselves. In 2008, representatives of the Thai national mint officially announced the launch of an updated series. From now on, the alloy began to be used for the production of coins, which significantly reduced the cost of their manufacture. On the back, as before, is an image of the local king. Despite the fact that old coins that have a denomination of 1, 5, and 10 baht have not been officially withdrawn from circulation, in many large stores they may not be accepted.
Country Paper Money
As for paper money, the Thai currency is divided into banknotes with a face value of 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 baht. It should be noted that the “hundred” and “thousand” are very similar in appearance, so they are sometimes confused even by local residents. Change foreign currency to local preferably in advance. The fact is that in shopping centers and shops, when paying for goods, only the currency of Thailand is accepted - baht. An exception may be a taxi, where, after prior agreement with the driver, you can pay with American dollars or euros. There is no problem with the exchange of money - it is produced even at international airports, and it is recommended to give preference to Phuket, where the rate is practically no different from other places.
It should be noted that the currency exchange procedure in banks is extremely inconvenient, because here it is necessary to fill in a lot of pieces of paper and provide a passport from which a copy will be taken. With exchange offices, everything is much simpler.
Exchange rate against the ruble and the dollar
In relation to the Russian ruble, fluctuations in Thai money are very insignificant, and the cost of one baht is in the range from 0.95 to 1.05 rubles. In other words, the course is almost “one to one”. Thus, the currency of Thailand to the US dollar correlates similarly to the domestic one - one baht costs about 3 cents.