In Search of Hard Currencies
Varying theories of monetary policy, and the ever-present risk of unexpected geopolitical and policy events, preclude any claim of a currency's hardness from being called definitive.
The paper currencies of some developed countries have earned recognition as hard currencies at various times, including the United States dollar, Euro, Swiss franc, British pound sterling, Japanese yen, and to a lesser extent, the Canadian dollar and Australian dollar. Times change, and a currency that is considered weak at one time may become stronger, or vice versa. However, countries that consistently run large trade surpluses tend to have hard currencies.
One barometer of hard currencies is how they are favored within the foreign-exchange reserves of countries:
| 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | Latest Data '12 Quarter II |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US dollar | 59.0% | 62.1% | 65.2% | 69.3% | 71.0% | 70.5% | 70.7% | 66.5% | 65.8% | 66.0% | 66.4% | 65.7% | 64.1% | 64.1% | 62.1% | 61.8% | 62.2% | 61.9% |
| Euro | 17.9% | 18.8% | 19.8% | 24.2% | 25.3% | 24.9% | 24.3% | 25.2% | 26.3% | 26.4% | 27.6% | 26.0% | 25.0% | 25.1% | ||||
| German mark | 15.8% | 14.7% | 14.5% | 13.8% | ||||||||||||||
| French franc | 2.4% | 1.8% | 1.4% | 1.6% | ||||||||||||||
| Pound sterling | 2.1% | 2.7% | 2.6% | 2.7% | 2.9% | 2.8% | 2.7% | 2.9% | 2.6% | 3.2% | 3.6% | 4.2% | 4.7% | 4.0% | 4.3% | 3.9% | 3.8% | 3.8% |
| Japanese yen | 6.8% | 6.7% | 5.8% | 6.2% | 6.4% | 6.3% | 5.2% | 4.5% | 4.1% | 3.8% | 3.7% | 3.2% | 2.9% | 3.1% | 2.9% | 3.7% | 3.5% | 3.8% |
| Swiss franc | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.4% | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% |
| Other | 13.6% | 11.7% | 10.2% | 6.1% | 1.6% | 1.4% | 1.2% | 1.4% | 1.9% | 1.9% | 1.9% | 1.5% | 1.8% | 2.2% | 3.1% | 4.4% | 5.4% | 5.3% |
| Sources: | ||||||||||||||||||
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Famous quotes containing the words search and/or hard:
“The danger lies in forgetting what we had. The flow between generations becomes a trickle, grandchildren tape-recording grandparents’ memories on special occasions perhaps—no casual storytelling jogged by daily life, there being no shared daily life what with migrations, exiles, diasporas, rendings, the search for work. Or there is a shared daily life riddled with holes of silence.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“A successful artist of any kind has to work so hard that she is justified in refusing to lay down her sceptre until she is placed on the bier.”
—Dame Edith Evans (1888–1976)