Booking and paying for travel now is a sound idea for intending travellers, with the Australian dollar falling to an 18-month low against the US dollar yesterday and some economists saying it is headed for lower than 70 US cents.
The “book now” message is a good one to get across.
Currency is notoriously skittish, susceptible to all sorts of seemingly unrelated trends. The latest jitters centre on worries over an impending financial crisis in Turkey.
US President Donald Trump and Turkish strongman Recep Erdoğan are at loggerheads and the AUD is caught in the fallout. Part of the problem is Turkey’s refusal to release an American pastor, Andrew Brunson, held on disputed terrorism charges.
Trump has slapped tariffs on Turkish goods and investors quitting the Turkish lira have seen that currency plunge to a record low against the US dollar.
The Australian dollar started falling at the end of last week and yesterday afternoon was trading at USD 72.85 cents (live mid-market rates) a level not seen since the beginning of 2017. One year ago, the AUD was worth USD 79 cents.
The Sydney Morning Herald quoted National Australia Bank’s head of foreign exchange, Ray Attrill, saying there could be more weakness for the Australian currency to come and another step lower for the Australian dollar could see it fall to around US 68 cents or USD 69 cents.
The Australian dollar has fallen against other major currencies too. It was yesterday worth 57.1 British pence and 63.9 euro cents. One year ago, it was worth 60.6 British pence and 66.7 euro cents.
Written by Peter Needham
.jpg){kind=tracking}