# World's Strongest Currency **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 3, 2006, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-strongest-currency/346955 "2006-03-03T20:36:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-strongest-currency/346955/1 "2006-03-03T20:36:24Z")
Title says it all. What would be considered, today, the strongest currency? I assume there’s more than one way of making such a determination, but I don’t know enough about economics to phrase the question any more exactly. Different websites I’ve looked up claim different things: some say the Swiss Franc, some the Australian Dollar, others the Euro, and then some still champion the dollar. Is there any systematic way to objectively determine what, say, the five strongest currencies in the world are? Oh, and how does the British pound fit into this? Somebody was claiming the pound is currently stronger than both the dollar and euro, but I don’t buy that as a fact without any supporting evidence. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-strongest-currency/346955/2 "2006-03-03T21:01:09Z")
You really have to define “strongest” for this to have any meaning. Currencies are usually strong relative to each other. I don’t think strongest is a useful concept. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-strongest-currency/346955/3 "2006-03-03T21:04:52Z")
This would be very hard to asnwer precisely. When “strong” has a precise numerical meaning, it is usually meant to mean growing in value relative to other currencies. So we can say the dollar has been stong relative to the Canadian dollar over the past 50 years because the exchange rate has gone from about parity to a Canadian dollar worth about 80 cents. Unfortunately by this definition, the Cayman dollar is exactly as strong as the US dollar since its value is pegged to US $1.25. (Note that the fact the Cayman dollar is worth more is irrelevant. It is the relative change in value that matters.) Probably no one would say the Cayman dollar is strong though since the word usually also conveys some notion that the currency is readily accepted on the world market Of course what we’d like to know when we say a currency is strong, and what most people intend to imply is that the currency will increase in value relative to another. Unfortunately no on knows this. If they did, they’d make a killing in the foreign currency market. In this sense one currency is strong relative to another if the interest rate in that currency is low. A weak currency has to offer a higher interest rate because bonds denominated in that currency will tend to lose real value when measureed relative to bonds in a stronger currency. To offset this, those bonds must pay a higher interest rate. However comparing interest rates can be a bit tricky since oftern institutional details may differ across the elnding practices of different countries. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-strongest-currency/346955/4 "2006-03-03T21:16:06Z")
The question is meaningless. It’s like asking, “Which company has the strongest stock?” You could ask which currency has deflated the least over the past X years (not particularly relevant), or which currency has appreciated the most relative to a basket of other currencies over the past X years (a measure which will favor currencies which were weak X years ago), or which currency is most likely to appreciate over the coming X years (a matter of opinion), or which currency is used the most outside of its own boundaries (dollar and euro, in that order). None of these measures would make a currency objectively “the strongest”. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-strongest-currency/346955/5 "2006-03-03T21:41:15Z")
Okay, how about this angle: which currency is printed on the strongest paper? ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Mike\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_H)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-strongest-currency/346955/6 "2006-03-03T21:53:45Z")
> [@Sal Ammoniac](#): > > Okay, how about this angle: which currency is printed on the strongest paper? I would guess the Australian Dollar. According to [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Dollar#Polymer_banknotes) , they are printed on plastic , or polymer, banknotes. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-strongest-currency/346955/7 "2006-03-03T22:09:14Z")
My parents have some steel pennies that were minted back during WWII, so I assume they’re stronger than most other pennies, which are made of copper or zinc. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-strongest-currency/346955/8 "2006-03-04T02:09:42Z")
> [@Mike H](#): > > I would guess the Australian Dollar. According to [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Dollar#Polymer_banknotes) , they are printed on plastic , or polymer, banknotes. As are the banknotes in New Zealand. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-strongest-currency/346955/9 "2006-03-04T02:16:20Z")
The Herzagovnian drachguildersmark is rumored to be able to lift eight times its own weight in gold. ---
**Author:** ![DaveRaver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daveraver/32/1078_2.png) [@DaveRaver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveRaver)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-strongest-currency/346955/10 "2006-03-04T03:25:00Z")
I think the op’s question deserves an answer. How about this: Of all world currencies, which has increased the most (relative the the U.S. dollar) in the past year? In the past 5 years? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-strongest-currency/346955/11 "2006-03-04T08:27:24Z")
Previous thread discussing which currency has the greatest actual value: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=244874](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=244874) ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-strongest-currency/346955/12 "2006-03-04T14:42:51Z")
Is there any way for your computer to record (i.e., capture the stream) of music from an itunes station? Like, a particular song being played on it? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-strongest-currency/346955/13 "2006-03-04T14:50:37Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > Is there any way for your computer to record (i.e., capture the stream) of music from an itunes station? Like, a particular song being played on it? Is there money in it? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2006, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-strongest-currency/346955/14 "2006-03-04T16:13:06Z")
> [@DaveRaver](#): > > I think the op’s question deserves an answer. How about this: Of all world currencies, which has increased the most (relative the the U.S. dollar) in the past year? In the past 5 years? Depending on how you measure it, the Euro could count. After all, it went from 0… 😉