The surging euro is confounding critics who once doubted it could rival the US dollar, British pound and Japanese yen -- but Europe's shared currency still annoys some consumers five years after its introduction in cash form.
It has surged in value nearly 14 percent this year to 20-month highs and is about US$0.03 or US$0.04 off its all-time high of US$1.36 in December 2004. It's a strong turnaround from an initial plunge to as low as US$0.82 in 2000.
"When it first started -- and even before it hit markets properly, everyone was very skeptical and negative on the whole thing, and that's exactly the performance we saw," said David Jones, chief currency analyst for CMC Markets. "The last three years has turned it on its head, reaching and then surpassing the 1-1 ratio in 2002 and it has gone from strength to strength."
"That initial negative view is history now," Jones said. "The euro is seen as a strong global currency now."
However, some consumers still grumble about using the euro, with 41 percent of people in the 12-nation euro zone saying they still have difficulties using it, according to a recent Gallup poll for the EU. Many still calculate large purchases in the old currencies.
And having a single currency hasn't closed the growth gap between Europe -- where 1 or 2 percent annual growth constitutes an upswing -- and more dynamic economies in the US and Asia.
But companies and governments can now raise money across borders with their investors no longer facing the risk that stock or bond holdings will be eroded by exchange rate fluctuations. And travelers no longer have to waste time and money at airport exchange booths, or return home with a pocketful of unspendable foreign currency.
The euro -- which was initially introduced on financial markets in 1999 -- has also increasingly gained acceptance as a foreign currency reserve in the coffers of companies and governments from China to the Middle East.
"Indeed, there is the very real possibility that several countries could switch a proportion of their foreign currency reserves out of US dollars over time to the euro," said Howard Archer, chief European economist for Global Insight in London.
According to the IMF, global foreign currency reserves during the first quarter of this year stood at approximately US$4.34 trillion. Of that, the US dollar accounted for 66.3 percent with the euro, the pound and the yen accounting for 24.8 percent, 4 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively.
Last month, China's central bank said it was mulling whether to reduce the weighting of US dollars in its reserves, when Central Bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan (周小川) said his country was "considering lots of instruments to diversify its foreign exchange reserves."
Archer said other countries have expressed similar sentiment.
"Also potentially significant were indications from the central banks of Qatar, Sweden, Russia and the United Arab Emirates in recent months that they are either diversifying away from the dollar in their foreign-exchange reserves, or considering doing so in the longer term," he said.
Peter Morici, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Business, said the US dollar's supremacy, while vibrant, could suffer because of larger US trade deficits and the urge to diversify.
"The euro is the prime candidate for diversification," he said, but added that Europe's struggles to maintain single-digit growth and high unemployment rates would keep the euro from supplanting the US dollar as the primary reserve currency.
RSS