Influence of inflation, nominal interest rates and real interest rates for long-term quotations of currency pairs: USD/JPY, GBP/USD and GBP/JPY

Abstract

The article classifies the activities on the currency market, which are: trade and investments, speculation and striving for collateral (protection against prices changes). The factors influencing exchange rate changes were analyzed within three groups: economic, institutional and psychological. On the basis of the data, the relationships between nominal interest rates, real interest rates as well as inflation and the exchange rate of examined currency pairs were analyzed. Inflation has proved to be a strong factor weakening a given currency in the long term, which appeared to be consistent with theoretical assumptions. Higher nominal and real interest rates also showed a moderately negative correlation with the exchange rates studied under the article, which may raise some questions about compliance with the universally applicable theory. At the end of the text final considerations were made to explain the results obtained and to place them in a broader context. Limitations of the study were indicated as well.