10 of The World’s Least Valuable Currencies

Everyone is aware of the strongest currencies in the world such as Euro, Pound Sterling, US Dollars, and a few others. Similarly, there are also a handful of currencies that are considered to be weak or least valued but not much is known about them or the countries in which they are issued.

These currencies are highly unstable and have a very low exchange rate. They owe their diminishing values to a lot of circumstances such as war, poor decisions by the country’s governing bodies, or simply because their economies are one of the most inflated ones in existence.

Keep in mind that determining the least valued currency or the most worthless currency can be difficult as they rise and fall constantly due to the ever-shifting world economy.

With that being said, here are 10 of the world’s least valuable currencies in existence.

Rial, Iran

Rial is the currency used in the country of Iran. To make their calculations are easier, the people of Iran use the term, Toman. 1 Toma is the equivalent of 10 Rials so if you were to pay someone 100 Tomas, then you would be paying them a total 1,000 Rials.

Currently, 1 USD is equal to 42,105.00 Iranian Rials.

Many factors have had a role in making the Iranian RIal one of the lowest valued currency in the entire world. Their economy went into a downward spiral owing to the wars they participated in against their neighbor Iraq as well as other skirmishes with Israel.

Threats of nuclear missile strikes from the Iranian government led to many sanctions being imposed on them from leading world powers. These sanctions further crippled the Iranian economy by cutting them off from the world commodity market.

As Iran had significant oil reserves yet they could not export it due to the restrictions on their market, Iran could not keep up its national budget properly which consequently went into deficit.

Sovereign Bolívar, Venezuela

Said to be the weakest currency in the world, the Sovereign Bolívar is represented as VES. Currently, 1 USD is the equivalent of 1,78,808 Sovereign Bolívars. Venezuela has been battling a losing battle with inflation which has landed a severe blow to its economy.

The Sovereign Bolívar was introduced as the main currency of Venezuela in 2018 replacing the Bolivar Fuerte. 

Their economy was one of the most inflated ones at the time which was why 1 new VES was equal to 100,000 old VES during its debut.

The Venezuelan government also has a cryptocurrency called Petro whose main aim was to combat the US dollar but they kept changing the dollar exchange rates constantly without fearing the consequences which accelerated the rate of their inflation rate drastically.

Dong, Vietnam

Vietnam is currently in the process of completely dismantling their old centralized economy and transform into a market economy.

Due to this, their economy has suffered major setbacks which is the major reason why they have the most worthless currency today as 1 USD is equivalent to roughly 23,335 Vietnamese Dong.

Fortunately for Vietnam, their current government is said to be taking the necessary steps to reform their economy and catch up to the rest of their Asian superpower neighbors.

Rupiah, Indonesia

Another Asian country that has a weak currency is Indonesia. It should be noted that Indonesia, in reality, is an economically stable country. The only problem is that their currency’s exchange rates are very low. At present, 1 USD is roughly equivalent to 14,911 Indonesian Rupiahs.

This can be blamed on the low value of their old-fashioned banknotes. In 2016, a presidential decree was issued country which led to the issuing of 7 new banknotes of denominations ranging from 1000 to 100000 rupiahs.

Although numerous reforms were introduced by the ruling bodies, they failed to make any significant impact on the low exchange rate of the Rupiah which consequently left the country at a major disadvantage.

Sierra Leonean Leon, Sierra Leon

Sierra Leone is an African country that has suffered many economic setbacks that have crippled their economic growth. The country was recently engaged in a war which has further led to the devaluation of their currency.

On top of all their troubles, Sierra Leon also battled the deadly Ebola virus which damaged their economy even further.

At present, 1 USD is equal to be approximately 9,850.00 Sierra Leonean Leone as social and economic development is very slow.

Som, Usbekekistan

The Som is Uzbekistan’s currency that came into existence on 1st July 1994. Until 2017, the issuance of the currency was 1 Som to 1,000 Som coupons which were under the Decree of the President of Uzbekistan.

Post-2017, the country has adopted more liberal policies to improve its economy.

As of now, 1 USD is equal to 10,146.97 Uzbeki Soms.

Guarani, Paraguay

Paraguay is one of the most inflated countries that is located in South America. They are exporters of cotton and soybeans but that has not helped their economy much.

Paraguay has been a victim of numerous setbacks like high unemployment rates, stagnated economic growth, corruption, and poor educational opportunities.

Due to these setbacks, their currency has a low value as 1 USD is roughly equal to 6,571.35 Paraguayan Guarani.

Riel, Cambodia

Cambodia is a Monarch State situated in the Southeast part of the Asian continent.

Their exchange rates are so low that 1 USD is the equivalent of 4,096.50 in Cambodian Riel

The main reason why Cambodia has one of the most worthless currency is that many Cambodians prefer to use US dollars for payments instead of the Riel.

As it is not popular even among the locals, Riel struggles to compete with the US dollar further diminishing its value.

Shilling, Uganda

The Ugandan shilling was first issued in 1966 to replace East African shilling as the main currency in several countries such as Kenya, Tanganyika, Zanzibar, and Uganda itself.

The Ugandan Shilling comes in a variety of denominations such as 1000, 2000, 5000, 10,000, and even 10,000 and 20,000.

With a steady decline of 5 % in its value for the past few years, the Ugandan Shilling stands at 3,790.74 equal to 1 USD which surprisingly makes it the most stable currencies on this list.

Belarusian Ruble, Belarusia

This is a fairly new currency as it was officially issued first on 1st July 2016 during which period 1 new Belarusian Ruble was equal to 10,000 old Belarusian Rubles.

The blame for this currency’s all-time low value largely falls on the country’s political climate, high taxes, and corruption.