Over the last several years, there have been significant changes in the globe. With the development of COVID-19 and all of its derivatives, many nations have had to entirely rethink how they govern key industries for the protection of their workforces.
The lowest currencies in the world remained much the same as they were in 2020 despite these global issues. Let’s compare these least expensive currencies in the world to the U.S. dollar, which is the most traded currency worldwide (USD).
*All conversion rates were gathered using historical currency data from Google Finance.
The world’s top ten weakest currencies are:
1: Iranian Rial (IRR): [1 USD = 42, 250 IRR]
With a value of more than 42 thousand IRR to $1 USD in 2022, the Iranian rial will continue to be the world’s lowest currency. Due in part to political unrest in the area, the rial has continued to be the world’s weakest currency as a consequence of sanctions that hinder Iran from selling petroleum to the international market.
2: Vietnamese Dong (VND): [1 USD = 22,650 VND]
Vietnam is still having trouble making the transition from a controlled economy to a market one, despite some minor improvements since 2020. Investors are still quite hesitant to put any significant amount of money into the country since its economy is so tiny in comparison to many other nations. This keeps the value of the national currency of Vietnam low.
3: Indonesian Rupiah (IDR): [1 USD = 14,365.5 IDR]
The Indonesian rupiah has only marginally strengthened during the last two years, similar to several other nations with currencies among the top 10 weakest in the world. Nevertheless, despite ongoing depreciation, the Indonesian government continues to work to raise the value of its currency.
4: Laotian Kip (LAK): [1 USD = 11, 345 LAK]
The Laotian kip is not just one of the lowest valued currencies in the world, but its standing has deteriorated since 2020. In reality, it dropped to its lowest level in 15 years in 2021. The kip’s astronomical inflation rate and devaluation versus other currencies are mostly to blame for this.
5: Sierra Leonean Leone (SLL): [1 USD = 11,330 SLL]
The value of Sierra Leone’s currency in relation to the US dollar is 16 percent lower than it was in 2020, which is having a negative impact on the country’s economy. The leone is expected to remain one among the world’s lowest valued currencies if current trends continue. Hopefully, the abundance of natural resources in the nation will aid the leone in recovering from this economic depression in the next years.
6: Uzbekistani Som (UZS): [1 USD = 10,812.5 UZS]
Despite moving up the list of the world’s least valuable currencies, the Uzbekistani som’s value has decreased since 2020. Since the Uzbeki government reduced the value of the som by almost half in 2018, in an effort to attract more foreign investors, the currency has struggled.
Unfortunately, although being steady, the som has not yet taken any steps toward regaining its original values.
7: Guinean Franc (GNF): [1 USD = 9,002.5 GNF]
Although the Guinean franc has improved only little over the last two years, it still ranks among the worst currencies in the world. There is optimism that Guinea’s abundance of natural resources will enable it to continue developing significantly in the future, particularly if further progress is achieved in the direction of political stability and controlling chronic Ebola outbreaks.
8: Paraguayan Guarani (PYG): [1 USD = 7,089.86 PYG]
The status and stability of the Paraguayan guarani have not changed, which is sad since the nation was making progress until it was confronted with the COVID-19 pandemic’s obstacles. Due to this, any advances have been mostly inconsequential, and for the foreseeable future, the guarani may continue to rank among the world’s ten weakest currencies.
9: Cambodian Riel (KHR): [1 USD = 4,065.5 KHR]
The standing of the Cambodian riel has not changed since 2020, despite the fact that it is still not a particularly popular currency. This could be due to the fact that the USD continues to be widely used in Cambodia for financial operations, which allegedly keeps the value of the riel low.
10: Ugandan Shilling (UGX): [1 USD = 3,507.71 UGX]
The Ugandan shilling, whose value has only marginally increased over the last two years, continues to be the final member of our list of the lowest-valued currencies in the world. Apart from that little uptick, the Ugandan shilling is very steady, thus its value may progressively climb over the next years.
