These are the worst-performing currencies over the last five years – and the rand isn’t even among the top 25

This article forms part of the archives of Business Insider South Africa, which was published as a partnership between News24 and Insider Inc between 2018 and 2023.

• The rand is not one of the 25 worst performing currencies in the world the past 5 years, a prominent investor found. 
• The Venezuelan Bolivar was the world’s worst-performing currency, followed by the Sudanese pound. 
• The rand lost 30% of its value compared to the US dollar since 2014 – but a lot of other currencies fared worse.

The South African rand was named the most volatile currency in 2019 – but it is not one of the top 25 worst-performing currencies of the past five years.

Prominent United States (US) investor Charlie Bilello recently released a list of the world’s worst-performing currencies over the past half decade. 

He found that the Venezuelan bolivar was the world’s worst-performing currency, losing 99.99% of its value compared to the US dollar. 

(Twitter, @charliebilello)

The Bolivar was followed by the Sudanese pound, which lost 87.4% of its value compared to the US dollar. 

The North Korean Won is the third-worst performing currency, losing 85.4% of its value. 

Other notable entries include the Argentina Peso, which lost 84.8% of its value, the Turkish Lira, which lost 62.2% of its value, and the Russian Ruble, which lost 43.6%. 

African entries on the list also include the Liberian dollar, which lost 55.3% of its value compared to the US dollar, the Nigerian naira which lost 55.2% of its value, and the Mozambican metical which lost 50.7% of its value.  

In contrast, the South African rand fell from R11.22 in 2014 to R14.58 for one US dollar on Tuesday, weakening by roughly 30%. 

The South African rand against the US dollar the past 5 years.

The rand’s value has returned roughly to where it was at the start of January 2019. 

Compiled by James de Villiers.