Frontier currencies come under pressure

Most major Emerging Market currencies have fared well over the past month even as concerns of a global trade war have mounted, but a number of those in Frontier Markets have struggled. Indeed, only four out of the 32 frontier currencies that we cover have strengthened against the dollar. Pakistan devalued the rupee for the second time in three months. Meanwhile, the Argentine peso has fallen by around 2% against the dollar, despite the central bank recently stepping up its intervention. In general, this poor performance reflects growing strains in the balance of payments in these countries – a number of frontiers continue to run large current account deficits.