Currency Systems

Your exam board specification will make clear which currency systems you have to cover, but here is an overall summary.

• Free floating currency
• Managed floating exchange rate
• Semi-fixed currency (crawling peg)
• Fully-fixed exchange rate (hard peg)
• Currency board system (hard peg)

Degrees of floating systems

• Floating currencies: A floating exchange rate is largely market determined, without an ascertainable or predictable path for the rate
• Free floating currencies: A floating exchange rate can be classified as free floating if intervention occurs only exceptionally and aims to address disorderly market conditions

Currency anchor (fixed or semi-fixed) system

• The monetary authority (central bank) buys or sells foreign exchange to maintain the exchange rate at its predetermined level or within a range
• Currency peg can be raised (revaluation) or reduced (devaluation)

Currency board arrangement

• A currency board is an extreme form of a pegged exchange rate, in which management of the exchange rate and the money supply are taken away from the nation's central bank
• Monetary authority decides whether to peg the exchange rate of the local currency to a foreign currency, an equal amount of which is held in reserves.
• Example to use is Hong Kong’s currency board arrangement with the US dollar
• According to the latest IMF survey, the number of countries with free-floating arrangements remained at 31 at the end of 2018. The majority of countries use either a managed floating system or prefer a semi-fixed or hard currency peg regime.

Some examples of countries and their currency regime in 2019

• Free floating currency - Australian dollar, UK sterling and the Euro
• Managed floating currency - Indian rupee and Brazilian real
• Conventional hard currency peg to US dollar - Saudi Arabian riyal
• No separate legal tender (use US $) - Ecuador
• No separate legal tender (use the Euro) - Kosovo
• Currency board arrangement with US dollar - Hong Kong
• Conventional hard currency peg to the Euro - Denmark Krone
• Currency board arrangement with the Euro - Bulgarian Lev
• Semi-fixed currency with the US dollar - Trinidad and Tobago
• Crawling pegged currency with basket of currencies - China (Yuan)
• Member of the Euro single currency bloc (floating Euro) - Finland
• Stabilised arrangement (managed float v basket of currencies) - Singapore