U.S. rates, strong economies boost European currencies

Published: 9 January 2006 y., Monday

Central European currencies have reached levels close to all-time records against the euro in recent days, boosted by strong economic performance and a rush by international investors to the region.

On Thursday morning, the Polish zloty was trading at just under 3.80 to the euro, its strongest rate since 2002.

By Friday, the zloty had eased off slightly and stood at around 3.81 to the euro.

The Czech koruna closed Friday at 28.90 to the euro, near its record.

Slovak markets were closed Friday because of a Roman Catholic religious holiday, but the koruna ended the day's trading on Thursday at 37.65, also near its record.

Analysts attribute the rise in the currencies to central Europe's strong economies and to investors ditching the dollar after the U.S. Federal Reserve hinted at the beginning of the year that transatlantic interest rates were as high as they were going to go for a while.

Experts have predicted GDP growth of 4.3 percent, inflation at 1.5 percent and a 3.2-percent budget deficit in Poland in 2006.

The Warsaw stock exchange climbed to new highs in the first week of 2006, with blue chips showing gains of 5.6 percent.

Polish interest rates are higher than in eurozone countries, and investors are fighting to get their hands on Polish bonds.

Šaltinis: AFP
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.

Facebook Comments

New comment


Captcha

Associated articles

The most popular articles

Putin reassures Russia on economy

Vladimir Putin appeared on live television and radio for his annual question-and answer session with the public. more »

EUFISERV Payments, ATM Scheme comply with SEPA; separate from processing biz in Europe

EUFISERV Payments announced today that the separation of the EUFISERV ATM Scheme from EUFISERV's former processing business is now complete, and is in line with the SEPA requirements of the European Central Bank and the European Commission. more »

Detroit impacts Mexico's economy

600,000 Mexicans work in the auto and auto parts industries, and U.S. automakers run around a dozen plants. more »

Time for Britain to join euro?

The President of the European Commission Jose Barroso says some British politicians are considering signing up to the euro more »

U.S. officially in a recession

It's official. The U.S. economy is in a recession. more »

Credit crunch – the EU at work

The crisis that started in the US over a year ago has sent shock waves around the globe. more »

Kick-starting the economy

Offering a coordinated response to the EU’s deepening economic crisis, the Commission is proposing €200bn in measures to boost purchasing power and generate growth and jobs. more »

UK promises billions in stimulus

The two men charged with keeping Britain's economy afloat moved on Monday to ward off a deepening recession. more »

An aging Europe - MEPs call for social security reform

European citizens are getting older and greyer. By 2050 it is estimated that the average age in the European Union will be 49, up from 39 now. more »

Obama's economic stimulus plan

Addressing U.S citizens, Barack Obama spoke of plans to revive the economy. more »