Tuesday, October 01, 2013

What things look like from Africa

People living in the US seem to be running around the Internet like chickens with their heads cut off today. I can not say that I have much interest in trying to understand what they are on about. I did see, however, that the dollar has lost value which is potentially very good for me since I am paid in Ghanaian currency. So if the dollar loses value versus the Cedi then I can buy more dollars and lots of stuff including imports, plane tickets, and money remitted becomes cheaper for me. The loss in value of the dollar, however, is not just good for people in Africa and other places where imported goods have to be paid for in dollars thus raising their price in local currency. It is also good for US exporters. One of the reasons the Chinese have been able to dominate the market for consumer goods in much of the world is that their currency is undervalued making their goods relatively much cheaper than those from the US. If the dollar loses value then US produced goods and services will be cheaper in Africa and elsewhere and will be able to better compete on price with goods from China and other parts of Asia. Overall this will increase US exports and any loss in profit from lower prices will be more than made up for by increases in volume.

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