A look at the future prospects for the Pound in the coming months of 2013. The Sterling index measures the value of the Pound Sterling against a basket of trade weighted currencies. In Dec 2011 the index was 80.4 By Oct 2011, the exchange rate index has increased to 83.6 This modest appreciation in the …
The Euro started Jan 1999 EMU involves Replacement of National currencies by the EURO Same Monetary Policy – Since “One Money” implies uniform interest rates Exchange Rates within the Euro area will cease to exist By mid 2002 national currencies will cease to be legal tender Pre Launch Blues Expectations about Inflation helped reduce actual …
Bretton woods was a semi-fixed exchange rates set up in the post-war period. The Bretton Woods exchange rate system had a system of pegged exchange rates with currencies pegged to the dollar. The dollar was fixed to the price of gold ($35 an ounce) – giving the US Dollar a fixed value. The currencies in …
Currency convertibility means that a particular currency can be easily and readily changed into another currency. Free convertability is a factor of a hard currency. (A hard currency is expected to be stable and retain its value in long term, e.g. Dollar, Japanese Yen) Convertibility is a feature of fully flexible exchange rates. Restrictions on …
The Chinese government have been criticised for the ‘manipulation’ of their currency. They would prefer not to use the word ‘manipulation’ perhaps they have an unofficial exchange rate target to keep Chinese currency undervalued to promote growth and exports. At the moment China only pegs its currency against the dollar and not a wider basket …
Readers Question: What would happen if a major currency, such as the dollar gets backed by gold again? If a major currency was backed by gold it means the government must hold sufficient gold to convert representative money into gold at the promised exchange rate. It means that the country would not be able to increase the money …
Readers Question: With talk of a Greek exit from the Euro, the situation is almost always compared to Argentina in the 1980s and 90s. Can you explain what happened there and how it was resolved. In the 1980s, Argentina built up substantial debt and also suffered from periods of very high inflation. To stabilise inflation, …
What are the Global Imbalances? US ran a large and persistent current account deficit (imports higher than exports) of up to 6.5% of GDP in 2006 Diagram of Current Account Surplus / Deficit in US and rest of world source: (1) 2. China ran a large current account surplus, accumulated foreign reserves, kept Yuan undervalued …