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The Australian Dollar ( Aud )

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The Australian Dollar (AUD), or “Aussie” for short, is the official currency of Australia. Its symbol is the same as the US Dollar, $. Exchange rate movements are commonly discussed in terms of US Dollars per AU Dollars (USD/AUD) or British Pound Sterling to AUD (GPD/AUD). While the Australian economy is only the 12th biggest economy in the world by nominal GDP, according to the Word Bank website, the AUD is the fifth most traded currency in the world by value (“GDP Rankings”, 1). The AUD was initially introduced in 1966 after the official Australian currency being the British Pound Sterling since 1825 and the Australian Pound being pegged to the British Pound Sterling from 1910 to 1966 ("Museum of Australian Currency Notes”, 1). In 1966 the AUD was finally introduced, but was pegged to the USD in 1971 at a rate of between 1.1 and 1.4 USD/AUD, on average. The Australian Dollar was finally floated in 1983 ("Museum of Australian Currency Notes”, 2). There is no more direct reliance on any other countries currency.
Except during the great recession, and more specifically 2007 to 2009, the AUD had been relatively consistent in terms of the USD and a basket of competitive currencies. Over the last ten years, the exchange rate has ranged, on average, from about 1 to 1.35 USD/AUD. Its highest value was at .91 in July of 2011 and its lowest value compared to the USD was 1.65 in October of 2008, right in the middle of the recession ("U.S. / Australia Foreign Exchange Rate"). That
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