Midway through July marked a 20-year high for the US dollar (USD) versus most other major currencies. Investors have flocked to the US dollar due to the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) aggressive monetary policy of raising interest rates four times this year for a total of 2.25 percentage points. As a result of its proximity to the war in Ukraine and increasing energy prices, the euro has seen its value collapse, while the yen has fallen owing to weak Japanese monetary policy and the pound has fallen due to poor economic statistics indicating a UK economy on the verge of recession.
Even though the USD has strengthened against the major currencies, there were some exotic currencies in 2024 that have shown a rise against the U.S. dollar. In this article, we’ll show you which currencies have grown against the USD so far and what are the main reasons behind this increase.
GEL
The Georgian Lari with a ticker symbol of GEL has become one of the few currencies that managed to strengthen against the USD in the volatile year of 2024. The first quarter for GEL wasn’t as successful for GEL as the rest of the period of the current year. At the beginning of the year, GEL was priced at 0.32 USD and it reached its lowest point on Mar 7, 2024(0.29 USD).
Since then Georgia’s national currency started to strengthen against the USD and reached its highest level on Aug 1, 2024 – 0.37 USD. GEL maintained this rate, without fluctuations, until August 14. Since then GEL started to decrease a bit, however, GEL still turned back to its highest level of the year and is traded at 0.37 USD.
There were several reasons behind the growth of GEL against the USD. Many causes contributed to the large propensity of the GEL to strengthen, but the main reason was the suspension of regulations due to the pandemic. Businesses and people were free to engage in a variety of financial activities, as shown here, which benefited the banking, finance, tourism, and other sectors.
Net foreign currency inflows were supported by strong demand and deregulation. This includes not just a surge in individual transfers from overseas, which reached a new high in the spring of 2024, but also a spike in demand for bank loans. Aside from the epidemic, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, as well as the increased migration to Georgia, contributed to a large spike in individual messages.
BRL
The Brazilian Real with a ticker symbol of BRL is another currency that strengthened against the USD in 2024. The Brazilian Real maintained its winning run against the U.S. dollar despite the country’s ongoing economic problems, unstable election processes, and the ongoing war in Ukraine. The rising demand and commodity prices, such as those for crude oil and agricultural goods, have benefited the Brazilian real in this year’s early exports. This is because of the global supply interruptions caused by the war between Russia and Ukraine.
At the moment of writing this 1 Brazilian Real is traded at 0.19 USD. At the beginning of the year, Brazil’s national currency was priced at 0.18 USD. After that, it started to grow in value gradually and reached its peak at Apr 20, 2024(0.22 USD). Since then the currency started to decrease and weakened against the USD. However, this tendency hasn’t continued for a long time and Brazil’s currency started to strengthen against the USD. From mid-July BRL has fluctuated a bit, however, its tendency remains. Its average price since then is estimated at 0.19 USD. According to experts, this tendency might not change or in the case of change, it will be slight.
MXN
In the wake of the Federal Reserve’s two straight rate rises, which brought the target range for interest rates to 2.25–2.5%, developing markets have been under intense pressure. The business community generally predicted a decline in the value of the Mexican peso after AMLO’s victory, given his leftist policies.
The peso would be in worse shape now if the president hadn’t been so dedicated to fiscal stability, keeping deficits and debt from rising to unmanageable levels. The peso’s value against the dollar has improved because of Banxico’s (Bank of Mexico) aggressive monetary policy, which has resulted in interest rate hikes from 4% in June 2024 to 8.5% in July 2024.
At the moment of writing this, the MXN is traded at 0.052 which is the highest rate during the 2024 year. At the beginning of the year, the Mexican currency was estimated at 0.049 USD, since then the currency had a bit of fluctuation and reached one of the biggest levels at the end of May and at the beginning of June (0.051).
Japanese Yen
The Japanese yen has been losing ground against the U.S. dollar this year, falling 22.6% in value against the greenback as of September 30th according to data from ICE Data Services. The currency’s weakness has had a significant impact on its attractiveness as a foreign investment option, with the yen currently ranking as the least favored among 31 global currencies tracked by Bloomberg Finance LP.
One factor that may be contributing to the yen’s decline is Japan’s ongoing economic slowdown, which is likely causing investors to shift their money out of riskier assets such as the yen and into more stable currencies.
Despite these headwinds, some analysts remain bullish on the Japanese currency due to its long-term fundamentals and historical appreciation tendencies. While there are risks associated with investing in any foreign currency, Japanese yen investors should consider factors such as current market conditions and potential policy changes before making a decision.
Final Word
As we’ve seen, even though many major currencies had a struggling and one of the worst years in 2024, in terms of decreasing value, there are some exotic currencies that managed to outperform the USD. There are several reasons behind this strengthening, however, some of the most common among others are monetary policy and the war between Ukraine and Russia.
