Dirham has proven to be one of the most resilient currencies, retaining its value since the pandemic, with a 0.01% increase post Covid, and a 45% increase in GDP, according to new research from the experts at City Index.
City Index analysed countries with the highest GDP and local currency strength against the USD to highlight which currencies have shown the largest growth following the economic disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The research looked into the latest data available from IMF.org to rank the 50 largest world economies in terms of GDP growth and then analysed the currency recovery of the top 28 economies by tracking United Nations data on operational exchange rates against USD.
Singapore’s currency strength places second in the data set, increasing by 3.33% since the pandemic. Currency strength can be affected by the overall economic health of a country, for example, factors such as GDP growth (in which Singapore increased by $167 billion from 2020-2023). In addition, low inflation and high interest rates made its currency more attractive to investors, which led to an increase in demand for the Singapore dollar. In 2023, 1.34 SGDis equal to 1 USD, compared to 1.38 SGD in 2020.
In third place is Brazil’s real, which has increased its strength by 2.77% post Covid. The recent strength in currency and equity inflows is partially down to the rise in the price of industrial metals and agricultural products, contributing to a $605 billion increase in GDP between 2020 and 2023, which is $32 billion more than Mexico in first place.
Also published on Medium.
