United Kingdom - Official exchange rate (LCU per US$, period average)

The value for Official exchange rate (LCU per US$, period average) in United Kingdom was 0.727 as of 2021. As the graph below shows, over the past 61 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 0.783 in 2019 and a minimum value of 0.357 in 1960.

Definition: Official exchange rate refers to the exchange rate determined by national authorities or to the rate determined in the legally sanctioned exchange market. It is calculated as an annual average based on monthly averages (local currency units relative to the U.S. dollar).

Source: International Monetary Fund, International Financial Statistics.

See also:

Year Value
1960 0.357
1961 0.357
1962 0.357
1963 0.357
1964 0.357
1965 0.357
1966 0.357
1967 0.362
1968 0.417
1969 0.417
1970 0.417
1971 0.411
1972 0.400
1973 0.408
1974 0.428
1975 0.452
1976 0.557
1977 0.573
1978 0.522
1979 0.472
1980 0.430
1981 0.498
1982 0.572
1983 0.660
1984 0.752
1985 0.779
1986 0.682
1987 0.612
1988 0.562
1989 0.611
1990 0.563
1991 0.567
1992 0.570
1993 0.667
1994 0.653
1995 0.634
1996 0.641
1997 0.611
1998 0.604
1999 0.618
2000 0.661
2001 0.695
2002 0.667
2003 0.612
2004 0.546
2005 0.550
2006 0.543
2007 0.500
2008 0.544
2009 0.642
2010 0.647
2011 0.624
2012 0.633
2013 0.640
2014 0.608
2015 0.655
2016 0.741
2017 0.777
2018 0.750
2019 0.783
2020 0.780
2021 0.727

Development Relevance: In a market-based economy, household, producer, and government choices about resource allocation are influenced by relative prices, including the real exchange rate, real wages, real interest rates, and other prices in the economy. Relative prices also largely reflect these agents' choices. Thus relative prices convey vital information about the interaction of economic agents in an economy and with the rest of the world.

Limitations and Exceptions: Official or market exchange rates are often used to convert economic statistics in local currencies to a common currency in order to make comparisons across countries. Since market rates reflect at best the relative prices of tradable goods, the volume of goods and services that a U.S. dollar buys in the United States may not correspond to what a U.S. dollar converted to another country's currency at the official exchange rate would buy in that country, particularly when nontradable goods and services account for a significant share of a country's output. An alternative exchange rate - the purchasing power parity (PPP) conversion factor - is preferred because it reflects differences in price levels for both tradable and nontradable goods and services and therefore provides a more meaningful comparison of real output.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: The exchange rate is the price of one currency in terms of another. Official exchange rates and exchange rate arrangements are established by governments. Other exchange rates recognized by governments include market rates, which are determined largely by legal market forces, and for countries with multiple exchange arrangements, principal rates, secondary rates, and tertiary rates.

Periodicity: Annual

Classification

Topic: Financial Sector Indicators

Sub-Topic: Exchange rates & prices