Word: franc
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Mitterrand's troubles can be traced to the economic austerity program he launched in 1982. During his first year in office, the Socialist President nationalized a flock of industries and tried to spend the country out of recession, but a sagging franc and surging inflation persuaded Mitterrand to return to the more cautious policies of his conservative predecessor, Valery Giscard d'Estaing. Under the direction of Finance Minister Jacques Delors, the Socialist government experimented with wage and price controls, cut spending and instituted an ambitious "industrial restructuring" that could over the next four years lead to the layoff...
...parallel abroad, where Americans were enjoying the spending power of the strongest dollar in years. Propelled by the high level of U.S. interest rates and concerns about political instability abroad, the dollar smashed records for three straight days. The U.S. currency reached alltime highs against the French franc, the Italian lira and the British pound, and a ten-year peak in relation to the West German mark. By the end of the week, a dollar was worth 8.59 francs, 1,700.25 lire and 2.8 marks. The pound cost only $1.40. The dollar's gains continued even though...
...year's trade deficit of $14 billion is dwindling rapidly, with this year's gap expected to be $7.5 billion. Delors will fall short of his goal of bringing inflation down to 8% this year, but the projected level, just above 9%, would be the lowest in France in ten years. Compared with inflation in the nation's major trading partners, especially West Germany, that level still is judged to be too high to avoid another devaluation of the frail franc...
Since 1980 the dollar's surge has been all but relentless. Its value has increased 105% in relation to the French franc, 53% against the West German mark and 50% against the British pound. Now America's currency is about 25% too strong for its own good, according to such experts as C. Fred Bergsten, director of the Institute for International Economics in Washington, and Otto Eckstein, chairman of Massachusetts-based Data Resources...
...dollar's current strength is a mirror image of its weakness in the late 1970s, when it sank to new lows against the West German mark, the Swiss franc and the Japanese yen. Then, many of today's problems were reversed. The abject dollar worsened U.S. inflation by raising the price of imports. European leaders angrily charged that the weak American currency made U.S. exports too cheap and was thus hurting the sale of European goods. The failing dollar also encouraged the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to keep jacking up oil prices since member countries were being...