A practical foreign exchange and currency guide to Luxembourg
What’s in this Luxembourg currency guide:
The official currency of Luxembourg is the euro, with symbol € and currency code EUR.
The euro (ISO: EUR) is involved in slightly more than 30% of all foreign exchange deals, and as such, is the world’s second most traded currency, behind the US dollar.
The euro is the currency of the eurozone (officially called the ‘euro area’), which consists of 19 of the 28 member states of the European Union, and is used by almost 350 million Europeans. It was introduced in January 1999.
Of all the thousands of exchange rates that exist in the world, the euro-to-US dollar exchange rate is the most actively traded, or most ‘liquid’.
Since its introduction, the euro’s lowest value against the dollar came in October 2000 when EUR/USD hit lows of 0.8231. The currency was strongest in July 2008, shortly before the worst stage of the 2007-2009 financial crisis, when EUR/USD reached 1.6038.
There are currently more than twenty nations and territories which peg their currencies to the euro, the largest of which is Denmark.
As the tragic Ukraine war continues USD/EUR is near 0.95, a 5 year high.
Due to the Eurozone’s reliance on gas from Russia, the euro is very vulnerable to the events in Ukraine with EUR/USD dropping to around 1.06 by the end of April whereas it had been approaching 1.15 in early February.
At the start of the tragic Russian invasion of Ukraine the euro sank to parity against the safe-haven Swiss franc hitting 0.9985 francs per euro on March 7th, the lowest since January 2015.
By the end of April the euro fell to a 5-Year low around 1.05 against the US dollar and the short term news for the single currency is all negative. Global bans against Russian oil and gas and uncertainty over ECB interest rate plans have prompted predictions in the currency markets for parity for the euro against the greenback this year.
Date | EUR/USD | Change | Period |
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05 May 2022 | 1.0540 | 0.4% ▲ | 2 Week |
18 Feb 2022 | 1.1322 | 6.5% ▼ | 3 Month |
19 May 2021 | 1.2171 | 13% ▼ | 1 Year |
20 May 2017 | 1.1208 | 5.5% ▼ | 5 Year |
21 May 2012 | 1.2788 | 17.2% ▼ | 10 Year |
24 May 2002 | 0.9210 | 14.9% ▲ | 20 Year |
The below comparison table makes it easy to find the best exchange rates and lowest fees when you want to make a Transfer or Spend Euro.
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Right in the middle of Europe, you’ll find the beautiful country of Luxembourg. A landlocked country, it’s full of forests, fairytale castles, and jagged gorges. The capital of the country is also called Luxembourg and is situated to the South of the Country. There is no King or Queen of Luxembourg. Instead, there’s a Grand Duke or Grand Duchess. The current Grand Duke is called Henri and he has been Grand Duke since 2000. Much like the Queen of England, the country celebrates his ‘official’ Birthday each year. With a successful steel, finance and high technology industry, a strategic location at the heart of Western Europe, more natural beauty than you might expect given its size, and as one of the three richest countries in the world, Luxembourg enjoys a very high standard of living.
By train: The Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois (CFL) [7] train network is either comprehensive or spartan, depending whether you want to go south or north. While the south is reasonably well covered, the north is limited to one main line (Ligne 10) which runs from Luxembourg City via Mersch, Ettelbrück, Wilwerwiltz, Clervaux and Troisvierges. The line continues north into Belgium towards Liège. Trains in Luxembourg generally run very much on time and are modern and comfortable. As the fares are so cheap this is a good mode of transport to use when possible.
By Car: Driving in Luxembourg is nowhere as testing as in other European countries. The locals are polite, even when entering roundabouts. When entering the highways from side roads into the slower traffic lane, the other drivers will allow you to join the traffic line, but traffic indicators are essential. As with other highways in Europe always keep in the slow traffic lane, keeping the fast lane for overtaking. Normal day to day driving in Luxembourg is a delight but traffic does slow down in peak times.
Luxembourgish (“Lëtzebuergesch”) – a Germanic language that incorporates many French loan-words – is the national language. It is spoken natively by just over half of the native population, and is the main language of television and radio broadcasts. German (“Hochdeutsch”) enjoys official status in Luxembourg. It is taught in schools, is the language of the press, court system and church, and is almost universally understood by the local population.
That being said, everything from road signs to menus to information in stores, will appear in French – which is the main language of the government. French therefore is clearly one of the most useful of the three official languages to know, particularly in the capital.