Half World’s 10 least performing currencies are African

Half of the ten least performing currencies in the World are African, said a Bloomberg report, highlighting the risk facing some of the continent’s devalued currencies due to lack of dollar liquidity.

Zambian kwacha, the Angolan kwanza, and the Nigerian naira are in the top 3 most fragile African currencies, according to the report.

Zambia’s Kwacha has suffered from the impact of drought together with depleted reserves that left the country struggling to repay debt.

Nigerian and Angolan currencies, in particular, have been exposed to the risks of oil prices fluctuation due to the lack of sufficient economic diversification.

In Angola, revenue from oil represents over 60% of the nation’s budget. However, the falling price of crude oil in the global market is hurting the country’s hard-currency reserves.

Similarly, the naira has been weakened by a low barrel price coupled with poor monetary policy following the currency float.

Poor currency management and imbalances were also listed among the reasons for weak economic performance.