Author: scatty

The basic economic law of supply and demand applies as much to national currencies as it does to rare natural resources and popular market products. As governments mint more coins and print more banknotes, this legal tender tends to have less and less worth.

Expanding the supply of money may be quite necessary, particularly in emergency situations. However, financial leaders must be aware that flooding the economy with currency is likely to have a pronounced negative effect on its relative value.

When a currency devalues too dramatically or too quickly, it can often spell economic disaster. In an effort to learn from history lest we repeat it, let’s briefly examine the five biggest currency collapses in history.

1. The Zimbabwean Dollar

After achieving independence in 1980, the African country of Zimbabwe established a strong dollar with a value that exceeded the US dollar by roughly 25 percent. But over the next several years, political corruption, economic mismanagement, race-based land seizures, and foreign sanctions led to an overproduction of the Zimbabwean dollar and rampant inflation nationwide. By 2004, this hyperinflation reached a record high of 624 percent. The Zimbabwe government effectively abandoned the dollar as its official currency in 2009. Since that time, Zimbabwe has recognized a range of foreign currencies as well as the new Zimbabwean dollar (also known as the (Real Time Gross Settlement) RTGS dollar.

2. The Peruvian Sol

To court foreign investment in the early 1980s, Peru embraced economic policies that stressed trade liberalization and increased public spending. As part of these policies, the Peruvian government began printing large amounts of the national currency: the sol. Unfortunately, government officials failed to adequately plan for the resulting inflation and debt. When overseas investors began to flee, the government decided to replace the sol with a new currency called the inti at the exchange rate of 1,000 to 1. However, inflation continued to rise under the inti, reaching a rate of 400 by 1990. In 1991, Peru abandoned the inti, returning to the sol (now the new or “neuvo” sol) at the staggering exchange rate of 1,000,000,000 to 1.

3. The Argentinian Peso

The economy of Argentina was enjoying record growth before the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) created worldwide financial turmoil with its mid-1970s oil embargo. While coping with civil and political unrest, the Argentinian government faced severe budgetary and trade deficits. To avoid a devastating recession, it began printing money, thereby spiking inflation and destroying the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP). Between 1983 and 1992, Argentina would replace its national currency three times, exchanging 10,000 original pesos for one peso Argentino, then 10,000 peso Argentinos for one austral, and then, finally, 10,000 australs for one new peso.

4. The Chilian Escudo

When Marxist Salvador Allende became president of Chile in 1970, he began printing legal tender to make good on his promises of increased social spending and wealth redistribution to poor populations. Unfortunately, this practice had contributed to rampant hyperinflation that reached 600 percent by 1972 and 1200 percent by 1973. After the overthrow of the Allende government later that year, the Chilean escudo partially recovered but continued to experience fluctuations for more than a decade. It was ultimately replaced by the new Chilean peso in 1985 at a rate of 1,000 to 1.

5. The German Papiermark

Described by Forbes as “the original poster child for failed currencies,” the fall of the German papiermark occurred at the end of World War I. As a condition of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was forced to pay war reparations to the allied nations. Among other pressing economic issues, this pressured Germany to print more and more papiermarks, triggering hyperinflation to the point that the currency was essentially worthless. In fact, when Germany replaced the papiermark with the reichsmark in 1924, the annal inflation rate was roughly 325,000,000 percent and the exchange rate was an astounding trillion to one.

Southeast Asia is a region located in the eastern part of Asia. It includes several countries; Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar (also known as Burma), the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The region is known for its diverse cultures, tropical climate, and beautiful beaches. It is also home to several important economic and political centers, including Singapore, one of the world’s major financial hubs.

There have been many influential politicians in Southeast Asia throughout history. Here are the five most notable.

1. Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi is a pro-democracy activist and leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in Myanmar. Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest by the military government for more than 15 years, beginning in 1989, due to her efforts to promote democracy and human rights in the country. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her efforts to bring democracy to Myanmar.

In 2015, the NLD won a landslide victory in the country’s general election, and Suu Kyi became the country’s de facto leader. However, she has faced criticism in recent years for her handling of the Rohingya crisis, in which thousands of members of the Rohingya minority group were displaced or killed by the military.

2. Ho Chi Minh

Ho Chi Minh was born in Vietnam in 1890. He got his education in France, where he became involved in Marxist and nationalist politics. He played a key role in Vietnam’s struggle for independence from France and, later, the United States.

In 1941, he founded the Viet Minh, a communist-led independence movement that defeated the French and established a communist government in Vietnam in 1954. Ho Chi Minh served as the country’s first prime minister and later as its President. He died in 1969, but his legacy lives on in Vietnam, where he is still widely revered.

3. Sukarno

Sukarno was the first President of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967. He was a key figure in the independence movement that led to Indonesia’s independence from Dutch colonial rule in 1949. Sukarno was known for his charismatic and controversial leadership style, and he played a major role in shaping Indonesia’s political landscape during his time as President.

Sukarno was a prominent figure in the non-aligned movement and was instrumental in establishing Indonesia as a major player on the international stage. However, he received criticism for his authoritarian rule, involvement in corruption, and other abuses of power.

4. Mahathir Mohamad

Mahathir Mohamad is a Malaysian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003, making him the longest-serving Prime Minister in Malaysian history. He is also the oldest serving Prime Minister in the world, who returned to office in 2018 at the age of 92. He served until age 97, when he was defeated in November 2022 for the first time in 53 years.

During his time as Prime Minister, he implemented several economic and social reforms that helped modernize Malaysia and turn it into a major economic power in Southeast Asia. However, he faced criticism for his authoritarian governance style and his suppression of political opposition.

5. Lee Kuan Yew

Lee Kuan Yew was the first Prime Minister of Singapore, serving from 1959 to 1990. He gets credit for transforming Singapore from a small, poor, and largely agricultural country into a modern, prosperous, industrialized city-state.

Under Lee’s leadership, Singapore implemented several economic and social policies that helped stimulate economic growth, improve living standards, and attract foreign investment. Lee was known for his strong and authoritarian leadership style. He was a controversial figure. Lee passed away in 2015 at the age of 91.

Issued by the Banque Centrale de Syrie, the official Syrian currency has demanded international attention in recent years for its precipitous loss of value. But where did the Syrian pound come from, and how long has it been around? Read on for an extremely short history of this currency and the tumultuous social and political circumstances that have impacted it.

Before the Syrian Pound

Before the fall of the Ottoman Empire during World War I, Syria’s official currency was the Turkish lira. In fact, it used its neighboring Ottoman country’s currency for roughly 400 years.

Under foreign occupation after WWI, Syria complied with French and British mandates to adopt the Egyptian pound as its official currency. However, the French government soon took both Syria and Lebanon under a new mandate to give Syria its own currency. France ultimately granted a commercial bank, the authority to issue the new Syrian pound.

Syria Adopts the Pound

Under the French government’s direction, the Banque de Syrie (a French affiliate of the Ottoman Bank), sought introduced the Syrian pound in 1919. However, the currency was pegged to the French franc and bore the French name “livre.” The Banque de Syrie introduced notes for 1 and 5 livres as well as lower currency notes for 5, 25, and 50 qirsha. At the time, the Syrian livre has an exchange value of 20 French francs.

In 1920, the Banque de Syrie began releasing 1-qirsh notes as well as notes for and 10, 25, 50, and 100 livres. Between 1920 and 1939, the issuing body of the Syrian livre changed twice: first to the Banque de Syrie et du Grand-Liban and then to the Banque de Syrie et du Liban.

The Syrian Pound’s Evolution

During the height of World War II in 1941, the Syrian livre officially became the Syrian pound. A change in name alone, the currency remained essentially the same.

In fact, the name change was a result of a new occupation of Syria by British military forces, who replaced Syrian currency’s peg to the French franc with a peg to the British pound. At the time, a single British pound was worth just under nine Syrian pounds based on the pre-WWII conversion rate between French and British currency.

The Syrian pound would return to French valuation again before it became pegged to the US dollar in 1947 at a value of roughly 2.2 Syrian pounds to one US dollar. Compared to the rocky road it would face in later decades, the Syrian pound remained remarkably stable from 1947 to 1961, maintaining the same US dollar exchange rate.

The Banque Centrale de Syrie began issuing the Syrian pound in 1957. In 1958, it replaced the French language on all Syrian banknotes with English. It also issued a progressively higher series of bill denominations that culminated with the printing of 1000-pound notes in 1998.

Modern Times Bring Modern Problems for the Syrian Pound

Since the start of Syrian civil war in 2011, international exchange rates for the Syrian pound have deteriorated significantly. One US dollar was worth approximately 47 Syrian pounds in March of 2011. By July of 2017, that exchange rate had fallen to 1 to 515.

Catastrophic sociopolitical events such as the violent Lebanese protests of 2019 have only made matters worse for the Syrian pound. The November Lebanese protests precipitated a 30% drop in currency value, and by January of 2020, the black-market value of the Syrian pound dropped as low as 1,000 to a single US dollar.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit Syria and the rest of the world, dropping the Syrian pound into a veritable freefall. By March of 2021, the currency hit a record low on the black market, bringing just one US dollar for 4,000 Syrian pounds.