PART 5: SPECIAL TOPICS
TABLE 17.1 GLOBAL FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATE REGIMES, 2008–14 (PER CENT OF IMF MEMBERS AS OF APRIL 30^1 )Exchange rate arrangement 20082 20093 20104 20115 20125 2013 2014
Hard peg
No separate legal tender
Currency board12.2
5.3
6.9
12.2
5.3
6.9
13.2
6.3
6.9
13.2
6.8
6.3
13.2
6.8
6.3
13.1
6.8
6.3
13.1
6.8
6.3
Soft peg
Conventional peg
Stabilised arrangement
Crawling peg
Crawl-like arrangement
Pegged exchange rate within
horizontal bands39.9
22.3
12.8
2.7
1.1
1.1
34.6
22.3
6.9
2.7
0.5
2.1
39.7
23.3
12.7
1.6
1.1
1.1
43.2
22.6
12.1
1.6
6.3
0.5
39.5
22.6
8.4
1.6
6.3
0.5
42.9
23.6
9.9
1.0
7.9
0.5
43.5
23.0
11.0
1.0
7.9
0.5
Floating
Floating
Free-floating39.9
20.2
19.7
42.0
24.5
17.6
36.0
20.1
15.9
34.7
18.9
15.8
34.7
18.4
16.3
34.0
18.3
15.7
34.0
18.8
15.2
Residual
Other managed arrangement8.0 11.2 11.1 8.9 12.6 9.9 9.4
1 Includes 188 member countries and three territories: Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten (all in the Kingdom of the Netherlands) and Hong Kong SAR
(China).
2 As retroactively classified 2 February 2009; does not include Kosovo, Tuvalu and South Sudan, which became IMF members on 29 June 2009,24 June
2010 and 18 April 2012, respectively.
3 As published in the 2009 AREAER; does not include Kosovo, Tuvalu and South Sudan.
4 As published in the 2010 AREAER; does not include Kosovo, Tuvalu and South Sudan.
5 As published in the 2010 AREAER; does not include Kosovo, Tuvalu and South Sudan.
Source: AREAER. Annual Report on Exchange Arrangements and Exchange Restrictions 2014, International Monetary Fund, 2014, October 2014, p. 8, Table 3. Used with permission.The Australian dollar was freely floated in December 1983, moving from a managed floating rate
system, under which it was effectively pegged to the US dollar.
In terms of trading volume, the US dollar is by far the most heavily traded currency in the world.
However, the Australian dollar is one of the major currencies in international finance today, and its
popularity stems from the relatively high interest rates on offer in Australia compared to most other
developed markets, as well as the impact of commodity prices. Other major currencies include (in no
particular order) the British pound sterling (£), the Swiss franc (SF), the Japanese yen (¥), the Canadian
dollar (C$) and the euro (€). As Table 17.2 demonstrates, the Australian dollar has gradually been
increasing its share of global currency market turnover since 1998.TABLE 17.2 CURRENCY DISTRIBUTION OF GLOBAL FOREIGN EXCHANGE MARKET TURNOVER
(NET–NET BASIS^1 , PERCENTAGE SHARES OF AVERAGE DAILY TURNOVER IN APRIL^2 )
Currency 1998 2001 2004 2007 2010 2013
Share Rank Share Share Share Rank Rank Rank Share Rank Share Rank
USD 86.8 1 89.9 1 88.0 1 85.6 1 84.9 1 87.0 1
EUR ... 32 37.9 2 37.4 2 37.0 2 39.1 2 33.4 2
JPY 21.7 2 23.5 3 20.8 3 17.2 3 19.0 3 23.0 3
GBP 11.0 3 13.0 4 16.5 4 14.9 4 12.9 4 11.8 4
AUD 3.0 6 4.3 7 6.0 5 6.6 5 7.6 5 8.6 5
CHF 7.1 4 6.0 5 6.0 6 6.8 6 6.3 6 5.2 6CAD 3.5 5 4.5 6 4.2 7 4.3 7 5.3 7 4.6 7(continued)