Hard currency or strong currency, in economics, refers to a globally traded currency that can serve as a reliable and stable store of value. Factors contributing to a currency's hard status can include political stability, low inflation, consistent monetary and fiscal policies, backing by reserves of precious metals, and long-term stable or upward-trending valuation against other currencies on a trade-weighted basis. Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... Economics (deriving from the Greek words οίκω [okos], house, and νέμω [nemo], rules hence household management) is the social science that studies the allocation of scarce resources to satisfy unlimited wants. ... To act as a store of value, a commodity, a form of money or financial capital must be able to be reliably saved, stored, and retrieved - and be predictably useful when it is so retrieved. ... A precious metal is a rare metallic element of high, durable economic value. ...

As of 2008, hard currencies could be argued to include the United States dollar, euro, Swiss franc, British pound sterling, Norwegian krone, Swedish krona, Canadian dollar, Japanese yen, and Australian dollar. However, varying theories of monetary policy preclude any such list from being called definitive. USD redirects here. ... For other uses, see Euro (disambiguation). ... ISO 4217 Code CHF User(s) Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Campione dItalia Inflation 1. ... GBP redirects here. ... ISO 4217 Code NOK User(s) Norway Inflation 2. ... ISO 4217 Code SEK User(s) Sweden Inflation 2. ... C$ redirects here. ... Yen redirects here. ... ISO 4217 Code AUD User(s) Australia 6 countries and territories Kiribati Nauru Tuvalu Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Norfolk Island Inflation 4. ...

The strong downward trend of the US dollar index (USDX) since its November 2006 peak has weakened that currency's position as a hard currency. Before its replacement by the euro, the German mark (Deutsche Mark) was considered one of the best hard currencies. ISO 4217 Code DEM User(s) Germany, Montenegro, Kosovo ERM Since 13 March 1979 Fixed rate since 31 December 1998 Replaced by €, non cash 1 January 1999 Replaced by €, cash 1 January 2002 € = 1. ...

In some economies, especially planned economies or those using a soft currency, there are special stores that accept only hard currency. Examples include Intershops in East Germany or Friendship stores in the People's Republic of China in the early 1990s. These stores offer a wider variety of goods — many of which are scarce or imported — than standard stores. Percentage of global currencies A reserve currency (or anchor currency) is a currency which is held in significant quantities by many governments and institutions as part of their foreign exchange reserves. ... USD redirects here. ... For other uses, see Euro (disambiguation). ... The Deutsche Mark (DM, DEM) was the official currency of West and, from 1990, unified Germany. ... GBP redirects here. ... Yen redirects here. ... ISO 4217 Code FRF User(s) Monaco, Andorra, France except New Caledonia, French Polynesia, and Wallis and Futuna ERM Since 13 March 1979 Fixed rate since 31 December 1998 Replaced by €, non cash 1 January 1999 Replaced by €, cash 1 January 2002 € = 6. ... ISO 4217 Code CHF User(s) Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Campione dItalia Inflation 1. ... A list of all currencies, current and historic. ... IMF redirects here. ... “PDF” redirects here. ... Headquarters Coordinates , , Established 1 January 1998 President Jean-Claude Trichet Central Bank of Austria, Belgium, France, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain Currency Euro ISO 4217 Code EUR Reserves €43bn directly, €338bn through the Eurosystem (including gold deposits). ... “PDF” redirects here. ... A command economy is a political system in which government decisions are made by central state economic managers who determine what sorts of goods and services to produce and how they are to be priced and allocated, and may include state ownership of the means of production. ... Soft currency and hard currency are two forms of money in use around the world. ... Intershop brand coffee Intershops were hard currency shops in East Germany. ... This article is about the state which existed from 1949 to 1990. ... A Friendship store was a store in China which sold exclusively to tourists, foreigners, and goverment officials. ...

Times change, and a currency that is considered weak at one time may become stronger, and perceived as a hard currency later on. For example, the pound sterling was considered structurally weak and liable to depreciate (in real terms) for much of the post World War II period; now it is considered to have re-established fiscal and monetary soundness and to be strong. The U.S. dollar (USD) has been considered a strong currency in recent years, and importantly a safe-haven in times of international tension or war, but the USA has large fiscal and trade deficits and an unresolved problem that many Asian currencies are pegged to the dollar and therefore do not appreciate as their trade surpluses with the USA grow; some commentators believe that these considerations imply that the U.S. dollar will now enter a period of weakness, especially that there are signs that China may be relaxing the rate at which the yuan is pegged to the dollar. There is some fear that commodities quoted in USD, such as oil, may be under undue pressure to increase in price rapidly if the value of the USD plummets and is no longer seen as a safe store of value. In time however, commodity prices should stabilize as their pricing is switched to more stable currencies. The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ... A fixed exchange rate, sometimes (less commonly) called a pegged exchange rate, is a type of exchange rate regime wherein a currencys value is matched to the value of another single currency or to a basket of other currencies, or to another measure of value, such as gold. ... CNY and RMB redirect here. ...

Investors as well as ordinary people generally prefer hard currencies to soft currencies at times of increased inflation (or more precisely increased inflation differentials between countries), at times of heightened political or military risk, or when they feel that one or more government-imposed exchange rates are unrealistic. There may be regulatory reasons for preferring to invest outside one's home currency, e.g. the local currency may be subject to capital controls which makes it difficult to spend it outside the host nation.

For example, during the Cold War, the ruble in the Soviet Union was not a hard currency because it could not be easily spent outside the Soviet Union and because the exchange rates were fixed at artificially high levels for persons with hard currency, such as Western tourists. (The Soviet government also imposed severe limits on how many rubles could be exchanged by Soviet citizens for hard currencies.) After the fall of the Soviet Union in December 1991, the ruble depreciated rapidly, while the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar was more stable, making it a harder currency than the ruble. A tourist could get 200 rubles per U.S. dollar in June 1992, and 500 rubles per USD in November. A worker getting paid 2000 rubles a month who planned to buy foreign merchandise would be better off exchanging rubles for dollars at the earlier rate than the later rate. 1000 rubles would buy US$5 in June, and that US$5 would be worth 2500 rubles in November. For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ... ISO 4217 Code SUR User(s) Soviet Union Subunit 1/100 kopek (копейка) Symbol руб kopek (копейка) к Plural rublya (gen. ... Purchasing Power- the amount of value of a good/services compared to the amount paid. ...

Because hard currency may be subject to legal restrictions, transactions in hard currency may lead to a black market. In some cases, an economy may attempt to increase confidence in the local currency by pegging it against a hard currency, as is this case with the Hong Kong Dollar, the Bosnian konvertibilna marka or the Chinese Renminbi. This may lead to problems if economic conditions force the government to break the currency peg (and either appreciate or depreciate sharply) as occurred in Argentina in 2001. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into underground economy. ... ISO 4217 Code HKD User(s) Hong Kong Inflation 2. ... ISO 4217 Code BAM User(s) Bosnia and Herzegovina Inflation 8. ... CNY and RMB redirect here. ...

In some cases, an economy may choose to abandon local currency altogether and adopt a hard currency as legal tender. Examples include the adoption in Ecuador and El Salvador of the U.S. dollar, and the adoption in Kosovo and Montenegro of first the German mark and later the euro. Legal tender or forced tender is payment that cannot be refused in settlement of a debt denominated in the same currency by virtue of law. ... For other uses, see Kosovo (disambiguation). ... This article is about the country in Europe. ...

See also

• Hard money
• Digital gold currency
• Fiat currency
• Gold standard
• Silver standard
• Soft currency
• Private currency