Saturday, October 01, 2022

A Strong Dollar

A strong dollar makes life difficult for American exporters, because foreigners will have to spend more of their own currency for each dollar of product they want to buy.  American travelers, however, can have a field day on a strong dollar.

A decade ago I went to Europe when a euro was worth $1.33.  Now it's essentially equal to a dollar, thus having lost 1/4 of its value in that time.

In 1975 I went to Britain with the sterling worth $2.05.  When I went in 2018 it was worth $1.33.  Today it's worth about $1.11, having lost over 16% of its value in those 4 years.

I'm considering returning to Iceland in February, so let's talk about the krona.  When I went 10 years ago there were about 130 kronur to the dollar.  In February 2017 there were 110, and in February 2018 there were 100.  Today there are 144 kronur to the dollar, meaning that the krona has lost 30% of its value in less than 5 years.

Oddly enough, the Mexican peso has held steady for about 2 years now.

Of course, all this could change tomorrow, but for right now I'm enjoying the thoughts of extravagant vacations.

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