Canadian Dollar - Value

Value

Unlike other currencies in the Bretton Woods system, whose values were fixed, the Canadian dollar was allowed to float from 1950 to 1962. Between 1952 and 1960, the Canadian dollar traded at a slight premium over the US dollar, reaching a high of US$1.0614 on August 20, 1957.

The Canadian dollar fell considerably after 1960, and this contributed to Prime Minister John Diefenbaker's defeat in the 1963 election. The Canadian dollar returned to a fixed exchange rate regime in 1962 when its value was set at US$0.925, where it remained until 1970.

As an inflation-fighting measure, the Canadian dollar was allowed to float in 1970. Its value appreciated and it was worth more than the US dollar for part of the 1970s. The high point was on April 25, 1974, when it reached US$1.0443.

The Canadian dollar fell in value against its American counterpart during the technological boom of the 1990s that was centred in the United States, and was traded for as little as $0.6179¢ US on January 21, 2002, which was an all-time low. Since then, its value against all major currencies has risen due, in part, to high prices for commodities (especially oil) that Canada exports.

The CAD's value against the US dollar rose sharply in 2007 because of the continued strength of the Canadian economy and the US currency's weakness on world markets. During trading on September 20, 2007 it met the US dollar at parity for the first time since November 25, 1976.

Inflation in the value of the Canadian dollar has been fairly low since the 1990s. In 2007 the Canadian dollar rebounded remarkably, soaring 23% in value.

On September 28, 2007, the Canadian dollar closed above the US dollar for the first time in 30 years, at US$1.0052. On November 7, 2007, it hit US$1.1024 during trading, a modern-day high after China announced it would diversify its US$1.43 trillion foreign exchange reserve away from the US dollar. (The dollar has been as high as US$2.78, reached on July 11, 1864 after the United States had temporarily abandoned the gold standard.) By November 30, however, the Canadian dollar was once again at par with the US dollar, and on December 4, the dollar had retreated back to US$0.98, through a cut in interest rates made by the Bank of Canada due to concerns about exports to the US.

Due to its soaring value and new record highs, the Canadian dollar was named the Canadian Newsmaker of the Year for 2007 by the Canadian edition of Time magazine.

Since 84.2% of Canada's exports go and 56.7% of imports into Canada come from the US Canadians are interested in the value of their currency mainly against the US dollar. Although domestic concerns arise when the dollar trades much lower than its US counterpart, there is also concern among exporters when the dollar appreciates quickly. The rapid rise in the value of the dollar increases the price of Canadian exports to the US. On the other hand, there are advantages to a rising dollar, in that it is cheaper for Canadian industries to purchase foreign material and businesses.

The rise in value has affected the book and book publishing industry, where buyers have been accustomed to fixed prices on the backs of their books: one for the Canadian market and another one for the American market.

The Bank of Canada has no specific target value for the Canadian dollar and has not intervened in foreign exchange markets since 1998. The Bank's official position is that market conditions should determine the worth of the Canadian dollar, although the BoC occasionally makes minor attempts to influence its value.

On world markets, the Canadian dollar historically tended to move in tandem with the US dollar. An apparently rising Canadian dollar (against the US dollar) was decreasing against other international currencies; however, during the rise of the Canadian dollar since 2002, it has gained value against the US dollar as well as other international currencies. In recent years, dramatic fluctuations in the value of the Canadian dollar have tended to correlate with shifts in oil prices, reflecting the dollar's status as a petrocurrency owing to Canada's significant oil exports.