Ministry of Finance, Japan

In June 1997, the Bank of Thailand must decide whether to continue or to abandon the peg of the baht to the U.S dollar. Recent economic performance in Thailand has caused speculation that the central bank will abandon the currency peg, but the bank's stated policy for many years has been that it will maintain the peg. Background about the Thai economy is presented in the core case, product 9B01M025. Other cases enable students to play roles of importer, exporter, investor, lender, currency speculator, the International Monetary Fund, Japan's Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Thailand. The teaching purpose is to provide students with an understanding of the forces influencing a decision about the appropriate policy relating to exchange rates.