How 139 currencies performed against the Canadian dollar in 2020

The Canadian dollar enjoyed a rather upbeat 2020, considering the economic collapse in the spring.

Most currencies (97 out of 139) weakened against the loonie last year, highlighted by a 1.8-per-cent decline for the U.S. dollar. When the pandemic escalated in March, the Canadian dollar tumbled below 70 U.S. cents. Since then, it has staged a multi-month recovery to around 78 U.S. cents, in large part due to broad-based weakness for the greenback.

It was not an entirely positive year, however. Several major currencies – including the euro, Japanese yen and British pound – strengthened against the Canadian dollar.

“While we are concerned about the big deterioration in Canada’s fiscal position relative to others, as well as very real competitiveness challenges for the country, we are on balance looking for the currency to hang on to its most recent gains in 2021,” read a December report from Bank of Montreal.