CEE Exchange Rates Report for March 11 – March 15

By: Thomas Taheny, The Quinnipiac University Economics Research Team 

CEE Currencies Index 

Source: Eurostat and own calculations. Exchange rates are inverted to be Euro per local currency (i.e., an increase indicates a stronger domestic currency) and then indexed to 100 at the start of the period.  

During the week of March 11th to March 15th, Central European currencies exhibited various trends. The Polish zloty (red) started the week with a high 0.6% increase in value, which steadily declined from its peak to reach a 0.26% overall increase by the outset of the week. The Czech koruna (blue) began the week on a slight decline but quickly rebounded daily, increasing the currency’s value by 0.56% by the 15th. The Romanian leu (yellow) saw no significant trends throughout the week, ultimately declining by 0.04% by the end of the week. The Hungarian forint (green) began the week with a steep decline, reaching a 0.95% loss in currency value at its lowest point on March 12. However, the forint quickly reversed this trend to reach a value 0.22% above its initial point.

CEE Currencies Historical Trends 

Source: Eurostat and own calculations. Exchange rates are inverted to be Euro per local currency (i.e., an increase indicates a stronger domestic currency). The center line is a rolling three-month average. The upper and lower boundaries are the average plus and average minus one standard deviation, respectively, for the same three-month period.  

Throughout the week of March 11th to March 15th, the Central European currencies demonstrated multiple new behaviors. The Czech koruna (CZK) increased in value and broke through its lower bound after nearly a month of insignificant movement. Unlike the koruna, the Hungarian forint (HUF) remained below its lower bound, even dropping further below the bound throughout the week with a slight rebound. The Polish zloty (PLN) remained above its highest bound this week. The zloty has notably expressed an upward trending pattern since falling below its lower bound in January 2024. The zloty showed this trend again this week, rising just to fall back to a point higher than where it started. The Romanian leu (RON) began the week increasing further above its higher bound, which quickly turned around to land below its higher bound by the outset of the week.