chris955

It doesnt seem like that long ago to be honest, around 2000 when we moved to Brisbane and did very well.
Yes I am though, thank you.

bigglesworth

Did it really get to 2.70? I thought 2.70 was back in the 60s.

Early onset dementia I think>

chris955

Yes I think it actually got closer to $2.80 but my memory isnt much better. Such is the volatility of exchange rates, less than a decade and it is halved and then heads back up again.

bigglesworth

Chris are you talking of the Aussie? (I have no idea what the range was)'

USD - GBP I am pretty sure 2.10 has been the high (or low) over the last twenty odd years.

dunroving

Yes, it was above $2.00 when I had to exchange $50k for the deposit on my house. A year later it was down at about $1.35.

... and around parity was the low, I believe, way back in the 80s (I might be imagining that - I used to have a really old table of weekly USD/GBP rates going way back, but can't find it now).

Funnily enough, when I was looking for my historical table, I found this article, which I had put in my favourites in January. Seems ludicrous now that anyone would suggest the pound would sink to $0.90.

[ETA: I found another, interactive table. In the early 1980s, the exchange rate was around $2.45, and then it dropped like a stone for about 4 years to $1.04. You can click on the relevant rate here, then change the dates in the charts.].

chris955

Yes, is there another $ ?

bigglesworth

I could tell you exactly when sterling hit parity if I examined my old expenses slips. I was walking down Fifth Avenue at the time. Rang my wife that evening and told her I had just had to pay the equivalent of 10 quid for a pot of tea!

I was running quite a large dollar book at the time, and when people complain about exchange rate risk now, I smile knowingly. Down to 1.60 in the 70s as the oil price shock worked through. Back up to 2.40 in the early 80s, and then very smartly down to parity and back up to 2.00 again. Pretty scarey stuff.

BEVS

NZ

bigglesworth

Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Brunei, Canada, Cayman Islands, Cook Islands, East Caribbean, Fiji, Guyana, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Kiribati, Liberia, Namibia, New Zealand, Samoa.

And perhaps the old Straits Dollar?

dunroving

Out of interest, are many of those linked with the USD (as in tied to, not in a formal currency union)?

I remember the BAH dollar was tied to the USD, and you can use USD there ... it's been interesting listening to the Scottish Independence debates and the SNP's insistence that Scotland can do what the heck it wants - including "keeping the pound". The latter would mean being at the mercy of rUK economic policy - have any of these countries linked to the USD had problems of that sort?

bigglesworth

Quite a lot do shadow the USD. Hong Kong is a very interesting example. It seems to work well- but Hong Kong maintains a US dollar reserve equivalent to the number of HK dollars it issues. Alec Salmond might like to bear that in mind!

Some South American countries have also linked - with fairly uncomfortable results upon occasion!