Currency in Kiribati – Australian dollar AUD

The Australian dollar is the fifth most traded currency in the world and is popular with currency traders, because of the high interest rates in Australia, the freedom of the foreign exchange market from government intervention, the stability of Australia's economy and political system, and the view that the Australian dollar offers diversification benefits in a portfolio containing the major world currencies, especially because of its greater exposure to Asian economies and the commodities cycle.

The currency is commonly referred to by foreign-exchange traders as the "Aussie dollar".

Australians are more focussed on their currency exchange rate than are the citizens of most other countries, along with perhaps the British and Canadians. This is may be due to the open and trading nature of the Australian economy and also due to their love of 'overseas' travel.

Aussie Ups and Downs 2011-20

The Aussie is very volatile for a major currency, for example between 2008 and 2011, AUD rose 80 per cent against the US dollar, ultimately going up through parity at one point.

Then during 2011-12 AUD started to track the Chinese economy much more than it tracked any of the traditional domestic economic and monetary indicators.

From 2013 to 2015 it dropped against the US dollar, especially when the Chinese stock market sold off in 2015, followed by a decent cyclical 17 per cent rally in 2016-17.

Then from early 2018 it again began its steady way down before being king-hit by the Covid pandemic flight to safety in March of 2020 which took AUD/USD all the way back to its 2008 lows to $60 cents.