The 10 Worst Currencies in the World

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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,453625,00.html



The 10 Worst Currencies in the World
Monday, November 17, 2008

While the dollar feels like its sliding against the euro, the pound and just about every other high-value currency on the market these days, Americans can take some solace in the fact that there are some currencies out there that make $1 seem like a fortune.
FOXNews.com took a look at the 10 worst currencies in the world to see how much a dollar could buy, even if you might not want to visit the countries on our list for your next vacation.

4,615 guarani will get you $1.
Paraguay
$1 USD = 4,615.00 Guarani
Paraguay is the second poorest country in South America, with an unemployment rate pushing 16 percent and more than 35 percent of its population living in poverty. The Paraguay guarani runs about 4,615 to $1.
Paraguay's capital city, Asuncion, was ranked the cheapest city in the world out of 143 locales this year, its sixth time getting that honor according to Mercer, a human resources consulting company that does an annual cost of living survey.
The currency's symbol — Pyg — is sometimes confused with a Japanese 1970s rock band of the same name.

5,115 Guinea francs will net you a dollar.
Guinea Franc
$1 USD = 5,115.00
The African nation of Guinea — near Guinea-Bissau and nowhere near Papua New Guinea — has the ninth-worst currency in the world, with 5,115 of its francs getting you a single U.S. dollar.
Its natural resources include the aluminum ore bauxite, diamonds and gold, and the country's soccer team has never made it to the World Cup.

One American dollar will buy you 8,640.75 kip.
Laos
$1 USD = 8,640.75 Kip
Vietnam's up-river neighbor, Laos, has been experiencing a resurgence in tourism, but it still deals in one of the worst currencies in the world. A single U.S. dollar will buy you 8,640.75 kip.
Laos home to the Indochinese tiger, the giant guar, the Asian elephant and a thriving Opium trade.


It takes over 10,000 Iranian rials to make one dollar.
Iranian Rial
$1 USD = 10,179 Rial
Under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran has remained a thorn in the side of the Western world, refusing to stop its nuclear program and continuing to threaten Israel.
While Iran has been riding high on petro-dollars as oil prices skyrocketed — driving up the price of everything from a gallon of gas to an airplane ticket to a box of cereal in the U.S. — its currency has remained unimpressive.
One U.S. dollar will buy you 10,179.00 rial, but don't start packing your bags. The government warns against travel to Iran as some elements of the regime remain hostile to the U.S.

50,000 Indonesian rupiah are worth about $4.46.
Indonesia
$1 USD = 11,198.40 Rupiah
The largest Muslim nation in the world also has one of the least-valuable currencies in the world. It takes 11,198.40 Indonesian rupiah to buy a single U.S. dollar.
Its capital city — Jakarta — is the largest city in Southeast Asia with a population of 8.5 million, about the same as New York City. Indonesia is also home to Bali, a tropical tourist paradise that was targeted by terrorists who bombed a nightclub in 2002.

Sao Tome and Principe are known for their cocoa, not their currency, which comes at nearly 15,000 to a dollar.
Sao Tome and Principe
$1 USD = 14,350 Dobra
Sao Tome and Principe is a small island nation off the western coast of Africa and has the fifth-weakest currency in the world. A single U.S. dollar will cost you 14,350 dobra.
The former Portuguese colony is the second-smallest nation in Africa, bigger than only Seychelles, and it exports cocoa, palm kernels and coffee.

Vietnam
$1 UDS = 16,975.00 Dong
The Vietnamese currency is called the dong.
Americans have a complicated history when it comes to Vietnam, but the still-communist country has a blossoming tourism industry, and visitors are usually asked to pay for everything with dollars, which trade at a dong rate of 16,975 to $1.

24,000 Turkmen manat equal $1.
Turkmenistan
$1 USD = 24,000 Manat
There aren't enough manat in the world to buy you a ticket to the opera, which was officially abolished by Turkmenistan's late leader, Turkmenbashi — along with the ballet, AIDS and other scourges.
The former Soviet republic got its own currency on Nov. 1, 1993, when the manat replaced the Russian ruble. Turkmenbashi, also known as former "President for Life" Saparamurat Niyazov, put himself on the country's money — all of it.
The country's significant oil and natural gas resources haven't been enough to quash its high poverty rate, which persists. The government will issue a new manat on Jan. 1 of next year.

It takes 35,000 Somali shillings to equal one dollar.
Somalia
$1 USD = 35,000 Shillings
Not even a recent rash of high-stakes, high-seas hijacks have been able to revive Somalia's stunted and shrinking economy.
The shilling has been Somalia's official currency since 1962 and has been declining in value steadily since the government breakdown in 1991, when it was valued at about 2,000 Somali shillings to $1 USD.

The Zimbabwean dollar is the worst currency in the world.
Zimbabwe
$1 USD = 642,371,437,695,221,000 Zimbabwean Dollars
It's hard to keep track of just how fast the Zimbabwean dollar has fallen since the government reinstated electronic parallel market transfers on Nov. 13, but even before that the currency of Zimbabwe was the most worthless in the world.
While the official rate on Monday was 19,393.94 Zimbabwean dollars to the $1 USD, the old mutual implied rate, generated from comparing the Zimbabwe and London stock exchanges, valued the currency at more than 642 quadrillion to one.
When the currency was revalued this summer, an egg cost about $35 billion Zimbabwean dollars.