Not baht

THAILAND: People in Santi Suk, a village in northeastern Thailand, have figured out a way to make sure that they have cash to pay for daily needs. They have created their own local currency.

During the Asian financial crisis of 1997–1998, Thailand slipped into a recession. Many people in Santi Suk had received money from relatives working in Bangkok, but as regular payments stopped or became smaller, the villagers experienced a shortage of money. Foreign workers from an international aid organization suggested that the villagers should create their own currency for buying and selling things locally.

The advantage of a home-made currency is that it is spent quickly, as it cannot be saved to earn interest, nor can it be used to buy products abroad. This keeps the money circulating in the community. So the people of Santi Suk used children's drawings as a basis for the design for their new bills, and then named a Buddist monk as "bank governor" to keep watch over the supply. This money has been used in the village together with Thailand's official currency, the baht , for a decade.

"We need our own money more than ever now. People need something they can believe in," says the bank's governor.

The current global slowdown has again made the baht harder to get. "We need our own money more than ever now," says Phra Supajarawat, the bank's governor. "Things are turning bad in Thailand and people need something they can believe in," he told The Wall Street Journal.