Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Against the background of the emergence of vaccines against coronavirus and improving prospects for global economic growth, a decline in the US dollar is observed, which has renewed its three-month minimum over the past week.
According to Reuters, the dollar weakened against the six leading currencies to 2% over the week, and to 6% over two months. Against this background, the euro gained more than 0.2% and reached the level of 1.194 dollars per euro. Despite the continued high geopolitical risks, the Russian ruble also strengthened, to 75.3 rubles. per dollar
Economists identify the following reasons for the weakening of the American currency.
First, the depreciation of the US dollar is taking place against the backdrop of expectations for the start of vaccinations in many countries and the end of the pandemic, which positively affects the forecasts for the growth of the world economy. In particular, Bank of America has revised its forecasts for global GDP growth. Following the results of this year the bank’s analysts expect a decline in the indicator by only 3.7%, while at the end of September they did not exclude a fall by 4%. In 2021 and 2022. growth is expected by 5.4% and 3.9%, respectively.
Secondly, investors start to invest in risky assets. As BCS Global Markets notes, the reduced risks of a transfer of power in the United States, as well as improved forecasts for global economic growth in 2021, have led to an increase in demand for risk - in this regard, the demand for not only the dollar, but also for gold is decreasing. According to Reuters, by the end of November, the price of gold fell to its lowest level since the beginning of July - $ 1,780 per troy ounce, which is 5% lower than the values of the previous week.
Thirdly, positive dynamics in the oil market has a negative impact on the dollar exchange rate. In particular, Brent oil futures reached $ 49.09 per barrel, the highest since 6 March. As Julius Baer emphasizes, global oil demand seems to have recovered and has already passed the 95% mark from the pre-crisis level, while the positive dynamics in Asia has been particularly highlighted recently.
In general, economists believe that the weak dollar does not reflect the absolute weakness of the US economy. Rather, it speaks of the weakness of the United States economy in comparison with the world economy, as well as the growth of the economies of other countries in the medium term.