Search
Latam Insights: El Salvador Launches Pilot to Introduce Bitcoin Content in Schools, Bitso Teams up With Despegar in Argentina
11.9.2023
Welcome to Latam Insights, a compendium of Latin America’s most relevant crypto and economic news during the last week. In this issue: El Salvador launches a pilot to add Bitcoin content to school curriculums, Bitso announces a partnership with Despegar in a cashout program, and Uruguay...
Indonesia Expands De-Dollarization Efforts With National Task Force Formation
9.9.2023
Indonesia’s central bank has established a national task force to expand the use of local currency with partner countries. Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, and China are already trading with Indonesia using local currencies. In addition, Singapore and South Korea have signed cooperation agreements...
BRICS Bank to Issue First Indian Rupee Bond — Plans to Boost Local Currency Lending
23.8.2023
The New Development Bank (NDB), also known as the BRICS Bank, is reportedly planning to issue its first Indian rupee bond by October. Last week, the bank issued its first South African rand bond. “NDB is seeking to increase its presence in the local capital markets of its member countries,...
Nigerian Association of Money Changers Calls for Banning of Binance
12.8.2023
The leader of Nigeria’s Association of currency exchangers has accused the crypto giant Binance of helping to worsen the local currency’s woes and asked authorities to consider banning the platform. The leader suggested that the optimism which ensued after Tinubu’s government floated...
US Dollar Shortages: Ethiopia and Nigeria in $100 Million Currency Swap Transaction
17.7.2023
According to a report, the central banks of Ethiopia and Nigeria recently consummated a $100 million currency swap transaction. Under the arrangement, an Ethiopian airliner was paid local currency equivalent to $100 million while Dangote Cement is said to have received a similar amount of nairas....
Argentina Allows Banks to Open Yuan Accounts — Economist Says It Could Boost Chinese Currency as Safe Haven Alternative to US Dollar
2.7.2023
The central bank of Argentina has officially included the Chinese yuan as a recognized currency for making deposits in bank accounts. “Opening yuan accounts could attract more people and enterprises to exchange Argentinian peso to yuan, as more or less a ‘safe haven’ currency, instead of exchanging...
Nigerian Central Bank Blasts Naira Devaluation Report — Publication Stands by Its Story
2.6.2023
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said on June 1 that the report claiming it had devalued the local currency to N631 per dollar “is replete with outright falsehoods and destabilising innuendos.” The Nigerian publication Daily Trust has said it stands by its story and called on...
Binance Australia Users Selling Bitcoin at Discount Ahead of AUD Withdrawals Halt
30.5.2023
Customers of Binance Australia were trading bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies at lower prices than those on other platforms on Tuesday. The discount is apparently due to a popular Australian payment service preparing to cut off the crypto exchange from withdrawals in local currency. Bitcoin...
Report: Emerging Market Investors Dumping Dollar-Denominated Debt and Seeking Local Currency Bonds Instead
24.5.2023
Emerging markets investors are being attracted by local currency-denominated bond instruments while leaving dollar-denominated debt, according to data provided by EPFR Global, a fund flow and allocation data insights company. These markets have outperformed dollar-denominated debt due to...
Expert Claims Proposed BRICS Common Currency Poised to Undermine US Dollar Dominance
20.5.2023
A recent report from China’s Global Times reveals that Zhou Yu, an international finance research director at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, believes that the proposed BRICS cross-border currency is a significant step in challenging the dominance of the U.S. dollar. Zhou asserts...
Microstrategy Founder Michael Saylor to Argentines: ‘You Need Bitcoin’ — Critics Insist BTC Is Too Volatile
28.4.2023
Micheal Saylor, the founder of Microstrategy, has told people living in inflation-stricken Argentina that they now “need bitcoin.” While many bitcoiners have welcomed Saylor’s suggestion, a few critics have said the top crypto asset’s volatility makes it an unsuitable...
Report: Zambian Currency Poised for First Quarterly Decline Since 2020
4.4.2023
The Zambian kwacha, one of the best-performing currencies in 2022, is now expected to see its first quarterly decline in nearly two years. The Zambian leader Hakainde Hichilema claimed that stalled debt restructuring negotiations are adding to pressure against the local currency. Zambia’s...
South African Rand Plunges to New 2023 Low Versus the US Dollar
12.3.2023
Just a few weeks after tapping its best exchange rate versus the greenback in 2023, the South African rand fell to a new 2023 low of 18.636 local currency units for every dollar on March 7. South Africa’s power shortages as well as the country’s recent grey-listing by the Financial...
Lebanon Financial Crisis: Banks Torched After Pound Taps New Low Versus the US Dollar
22.2.2023
The Lebanese pound’s fall to its lowest ever versus the U.S. dollar, 80,000 to 1, has piled more misery on residents whose local currency-denominated savings have been decimated by inflation. The ongoing strike by banks demanding the passage of capital control legislation has compounded...
Report: South Sudan Government Bans US Dollar Transactions
14.2.2023
The government of South Sudan has reportedly prohibited U.S. dollar-based transactions and has directed that all local payments be settled in the local currency. The Salva Kiir Mayardit government reportedly said it also wants all signed commercial contracts to be based on the local currency. South...
Nearly $1 Billion Poured Into Egypt’s Forex Market — Local Currency Now World’s Worst Performing Currency in 2023
18.1.2023
The Egyptian central bank recently claimed that its decision to devalue the local currency has been vindicated by foreign investors’ return to the country’s foreign market where they reportedly poured in $925 million in just three days. The surge in the sales of Egyptian treasury bills...
Report: Syrian Central Bank Devalues Local Currency by Nearly 50%
3.1.2023
The Syrian central bank recently announced the nearly 50% devaluation of the Syrian pound’s exchange rate versus the greenback from 3,015 per dollar to 4,522 per dollar. The central bank also warned currency speculators that it will take steps to end activities that undermine the stability...
Report: Nigerian Central Bank Spent Over $1.8 Billion Managing Local Currency
30.12.2022
During her appearance before Nigerian lawmakers, Aisha Ahmad, the deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), told lawmakers that out of the nearly $1.8 billion used to manage the local currency, over 90% of this total was reportedly used to fund expenses associated with the production...
Hong Kong Protects Local Currency in Forex Market Amid Capital Flight to US Dollar
29.9.2022
Following the Bank of England explaining that it would be meddling in U.K. bond markets and the Bank of Japan defending the yen in the foreign exchange market last week, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) revealed it intervened in forex markets on Wednesday. Hong Kong’s central bank...
Nigerian Inflation Rate Rises to 20.52% in August — Month-on-Month Rate Drops
19.9.2022
While Nigeria’s year-on-year inflation rose for the seventh straight month to 20.52% in August 2022, the latest data from Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics shows that the month-on-month rate declined from 1.82% to 1.77% during the same period. The depreciation of the local...