A Review On Currency Devaluation

Inflation is one of the most talked about words in society that causes a big problem in economics today. Inflation is an increase in the overall prices of goods and services and a decline in the purchasing value of money. This exists when the money supply surpasses the goods and services that are available. For this commentary, I chose to pick the article In a Venezuela Ravaged by Inflation, ‘a Race for Survival’ that deals with the topic inflation.

The financial crisis in Argentina during the late 1990s and early 2000s resulted in severe issues with foreign debt, inflation, unemployment, and political turmoil for the country. Argentina not only suffered a currency crisis, but also suffered a political crisis. Fallout from the economic collapse was so severe the Argentinean population resorted to civil unrest and protest, which in turn exacerbated Argentina’s problems at the turn of the century. While other issues related to this financial crisis such as the impact on the lives of the Argentinean population or the political turmoil and corruption are certainly worthy of discussion, this paper will focus on the currency crisis and the Argentinean government’s role in this economic

The impacts of globalisation have dramatically reduced Brazil’s rates of inflation in the past two decades. The inflation rate in Brazil averaged 390.85% from 1980 until 2014; however, the competitive pressure brought forth by globalisation as well as the associated increase in efficiency and output has served to keep inflation rates low in recent years. The current inflation rate is 6.59% in Consumer Price Index. However, Brazil’s reliance on FDI inflows has resulted in the elevation of inflation rates by 4.5% following the Argentinean Economic Crisis, which saw the depreciation of import prices.

3. Part of the reason the World Bank’s standard Structural Adjustment Policies has been counterproductive partially because of unfortunate timing. Reduce government spending caused a recessionary effect, decreasing demand and increasing unemployment hurt nations. Strict monetary policy raised interest rates and helped to further suffocate investment demand and access to capital for poor farmers and low-income entrepreneurs. Currency devaluation did make exports cheaper but at a time when export markets for primary goods were oversupplied and prices were falling. Import cost also rose making it more expensive for domestic producers to obtain new technology and replacement parts. In addition, privatization of government enterprises also increased efficiency, which was accompanied by downsizing, which resulted in unemployment for thousands of the middle class. At this time the reductions in

The foreign currency chosen in the comparison against the U.S. Dollar is the Mexican Peso (MXN) for the years of 2005 to 2010. The Mexican Peso has had a history of periods of stability that have been followed by periods of inflation and devaluations. In 1993 the Bank of Mexico introduced a new currency, the “new peso” which brought more stability to the economy. There was more demand internationally for Mexican stocks and treasury certificates known as Cetes, this kept the New Peso at a stable level of about 3.1 for most of 1993. After briefly reaching 11.50 to the dollar in the late 1990’s, the peso had several years of ups and downs, gaining to less than 10 to the dollar just before the global economic crisis of 2008. Since that crisis

Throughout 1994, Mexico lost significant amounts of reserves trying to stabilise the exchange rate. In 1989 the current account deficit was US$6 billion; by 1991 it had grown to US$15billion, before swelling to approximately US$20billion 1992 and 1993. However, after losing US$1.5billion in reserves over three days in early December 1994, the Government decided to depreciate the Peso by approximately 15%. Within days the Peso plummeted in value as the Government abandoned its new peg, sending the country into the 1994 Mexico financial crisis (Joseph & Whitt 1996).

Before the 60’s Mexico has experience a growth in their economy that was called the “Mexican miracle” because of the growth from 3% to 4% in just few time. However, after this period of growth, what followed was decades of debt. “In the late 1960s, Latin America

As demonstrated above, Brazil has created a trend in rising GDP since 2003 by steadily improving their macroeconomic stability (Central Intelligence Agency, 2012). Analysis of the rises or decreases in real GDP are the most accurate method to determine the state of a nation’s economy. The rises in Brazil’s real GDP demonstrate that this country currently has a healthy, thriving economy. In addition, an accurate analysis of the nation’s current, past, and projected GDP provides policy makers with a basis for determining economic and fiscal policies. Currently, Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff has indicated her intention of continuing the former economic policies, including sound fiscal management due to the economic growth during the former President Lula’s administration (U.S. Dept. of State, 2011). As an example of Brazil’s thriving real GDP; according to The World Bank, the nominal GDP (represented in U.S. dollars) for the year 2010 was $2,087,889,553,822 (The World Bank Group, 2012). As an economic principle, “both real and nominal GDP increase during an

In modern times the peso has endured more or less stable against the US dollar and other major worldwide currencies. Although the peso has come under pressure from international recession that is becoming obvious in Europe, One thing that is apparent from making a approximate study of the historical information is that the strength of a currency has a direct relationship with the strength of the economy. As is apparent from the economic disaster experienced by Mexico, during the 1970s and 1980s, which is why the Mexican peso is experiencing distress. As most of the Mexican economy produces its income from exports therefore, it is suffering from a deepening crisis in the global market. On the positive side, the future of the Mexican peso is

Initially the country’s bank currency had been viewed as inflexible since it was anchored on the depreciating worth of the

The heavy borrowing of the 1960s and 70s also however allowed countries to put in place unsustainable domestic policies. Many governments put in place populist policies that entailed using expansionary fiscal and monetary policies with little regard for inflationary risks, budget deficits, and foreign exchange constraints. Populism promoted growth and income distribution but did not address the risks of increasing debt. In addition to encouraging unsustainable policies, the low interest rates that Latin American countries became accustomed to actually discouraged saving which added additional fuel to the economic crisis.

For instance, at a personal level I have acknowledged that use of policies inappropriately by relevant stakeholders in the economy in attempts to correct the situation when it first went wrong worsened the situation. For instance, the contractionary monetary policy undertaken by the government to counteract the inflationary effect caused by the increased money supply was not effectuated accordingly and as a result, led to depression due to reduced investments and reduced productivity by industries. In addition, can be determined from the article while the government appeared to be putting measures in place to correct the situation, its action actually worsened the situation in some

Prior to becoming a democratic country, Argentina was exposed to a military dictatorship. Under this regime the Economy Minister was Jose Alfredo Martinez de Hoz whose neoliberal economic platform sided along to anti-labor, monetarist policies and financial liberalization. As a result of this regime, Argentina accumulated a $45 billion foreign debt. As a result interest rates exceeded trade surpluses, unemployment increased and there were high inflation rates. In 1985 a democracy was reestablished once President Raul Alfonsin was elected. Alfonsin’s government intended to stabilize the economy by establishing the austral, a new currency. However, this was unsuccessful because the government couldn’t continue to fund its debts. The cost of utility increased significantly as real wages fell by almost half. As a result uncertainty increased across the country, inflation increased from 200% a year in 1988 to 5,000% in 1989 (Brooke).

Brazil’s past governmental leaders also created economic problems, due to borrowing money and attempts to solve the crisis by printing even more money, and then trying to fix the inflation problems. Before 2000, Brazil borrowed over $41.5 billion in loans and guarantees from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other international organizations. Per capita income in 1970 was also only $1,000. (Rother 139-140). Many of the presidents of Brazil attempted to fix the economic issues, such as Jose Sarney, who became president in 1985, after about twenty years of the country ruled under military politicians. Sarney created a spending program, which unfortunately increased the money supply, leading to hyperinflation. (Watkins 0). After Sarney, the next president was Fernando Collor de Mello, who attempted to fix the problems that Sarney created by freezing prices and wages, bank accounts, and he “imposed high taxes on financial transactions” (Rother 143). He

Recession causes strikes and decrease of public income, which has as its corollary the increase in public debt, and the fact that they must pay back the debt in peso, due to his withdrawal of