How the US Shutdown Affects Currency Exchange Rates for Expats

by Simon Hilton, senior foreign exchange consultant at World First and official Expat Focus foreign exchange partner

In the past few months, we’ve seen the strength of the US dollar take a bit of a tumble. At the start of July, USD was up at 0.671 against GBP, but in recent weeks, we’ve seen it fall below 0.61. And it’s not just the pound against which we’ve seen the US dollar struggle, having also lost ground to the Euro and Australian dollar (AUD), amongst others.

Add to that the political deadlock which brought about a US government shutdown, and it’s certainly been an unsettled picture. About 800,000 federal workers in America were told not to go to work while museums, national parks, services and government buildings remained shut in the wake of a lack of consensus over the US budget and the debt ceiling.

So what has this meant for the US dollar? Well, a temporary lack of credibility and a loss of confidence in USD has ensued, creating a feeling of uncertainty and wariness amongst potential investors, which, in some cases, has actually deterred them from investing...

http://www.expatfocus.com/c/aid=1325/articles/financial/how-the-us-shutdown-affects-currency-exchange-rates-for-expats/