Bt73.3 billion in cash – it’s enough to make our heads spin ... and get our imaginations running wild. The Political Desk has worked overtime, playing with this enormous number. Here are some of the interesting figures we’ve come up with.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Thak-sin Shinawatra’s family received a huge cash haul of Bt73.3 billion from Temasek of Singapore from the sale of its Shin Corp shares. Let’s start with how the Shinawatra family will count all that cash.

According to a bank employee, banks’ cash-counting procedures normally require that it be counted twice. The first time they count it by hand, to make sure none of the notes are fakes.

Assuming the amount is in Bt1,000 notes, it usually takes

about three minutes to count Bt1 million. The second time around they use a counting machine, which takes about one minute per Bt1 million. So, in total, you’re looking at four minutes to count each Bt1 million.

All told, that means counting Bt73.3 billion would take 293,200 minutes. That’s 4,886.67 hours ... or 203.61 days ... or 6.79 months. So basically, you’re looking at half a year. Of course, that’s assuming a single bank worker goes at it 24 hours a day, sitting at his or her desk with no naps, no meals, no snacks – not even a single toilet break.

Let’s imagine for a moment how much all that money would weigh. Assuming again that we’re talking about Bt1,000 banknotes, Bt1 million in cash would weigh in at about 0.4 kg. Altogether, Bt73.3 billion would weigh 29,320 kg, or 29.32 tonnes.

So, if he wants to haul around that much cash, Thaksin might have to call his old friend Snoh Thienthong’s service and hire a 10-wheeled truck.

Knowing how much the premier appreciates the efforts of “coolies”, however – remembering how he thanked the “coolies” for working so hard at the soft opening of the new Airport in September – he’d need to hire precisely 586.4 of them to move his new-found cash reserves around. (For that statistic, many thanks to the National Parks officer who informed us that each porter can lug 50 kg).

You’re probably dying to know how long all that cash would stretch for if it were laid out. Well, measured end-to-end, Bt73.3 billion worth of Bt1,000 notes would be 11,874.6 km long. That’s eight times the distance from Thailand’s

northernmost district of Mae Sai

in Chiang Rai, to the southernmost district, Yala’s Betong.

And just how big an area would Bt73.3 billion in cash cover, you ask? According to the Bank of Thailand’s website, the size of a Bt1,000 note is 7.2cm by 16.2cm. That means Bt73.3 billion in Bt1,000 notes would occupy 85,497.12 sq km. To put that in perspective, that’s four times the area of the Kingdom’s largest province, Nakhon Ratchasima – or nearly the size of the entire Central region of Thailand.

Does all this give you some idea of exactly how much money we’re talking about here?

While it’s still not clear what Thaksin’s family intends to do with their huge cash haul, the most obvious option is to deposit the money in a bank.

According to a commercial bank, the three-month fixed interest rate is 3.25 per cent. If Thaksin’s family stashes the Bt73.3 billion in that bank they would earn (after deducting 15 per cent in tax) Bt506.23 million on their deposit every three months. That’s Bt168.74 million a month ... or Bt5.62 million a day ... or nearly Bt234,365 an hour ... or Bt3,906 a minute ... or just over Bt65 a second in interest.

If Thaksin is to be taken at his word, the Shinawatras aren’t looking to start any new businesses.

“Oh! No more. I will have a rest and work for the country. My children run small businesses that fit their age. How Come [the company run by Thaksin’s son Panthongtae] is still in the red,” the premier said earlier this week.

So, with all that free time on their hands, we were curious to know how long it would take the Shinawatra clan to spend all that money.

According to one study, the average life span of a Thai is 72 years, or 26,280 days.

Thaksin’s only son Panthongtae is 27 years old. That means he’s got 45 years – or 16,425 days – left. Having pocketed Bt22.58 billion from the Shin deal, he could afford to spend Bt1.37 million a day ... or Bt57,280 an hour ... or Bt954 a minute ... or Bt15 every second for the rest of his life. And we haven’t even mentioned the interest that will accumulate for every second that he fails to spend any cash.

Seriously, prime minister ... how can we even begin to hide our envy?

Political Desk
The Nation