Among major currencies, the South Korean won suffered 1) the steepest monthly decline against the US dollar, reports showed Wednesday, due to the latest trend of a persistently strong 2) greenback.

The won had fallen 2.82 percent on-month as of Tuesday, 3) Bloomberg data that measured the monthly rate of decline of 16 major currencies showed.

Most currencies 4) weakened against the US dollar, except the Mexican peso and South Africa’s rand, which gained 1.98 percent and 1.07 percent, respectively.
The Swiss franc closely followed the won with a 2.29 percent rate of decline, while the Swedish krona and New Zealand dollar were also included 5) in the 2 percent drop range.

The Canadian and Australian dollar fell 0.83 percent and 0.7 percent, 6) respectively.

The Japanese yen and British pound dropped 0.43 percent and 0.57 percent, respectively , despite their reputations as relatively risk-free assets. The euro fell 0.23 percent amid concerns surrounding bleak forecasts on the EU economy.
The trend of a strong US dollar comes on the back of reports pointing to robust growth The trend of a strong US dollar comes on the back of reports pointing to robust growth in 7) the world’s largest economy , while the rest of the world have been dealing with 8) lesser-than-expected reports on economic growth.

According to the US Bureau of Economic 9) Analysis, 10) its first-quarter 11) gross domestic product expanded by 3.2 percent, posting its best growth to begin the year in nearly four years.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Korea recently said Korea’s gross domestic product had 12) backtracked an estimated 0.3 percent 13) in the first three months of the year from the previous quarter -- its worst performance in almost a decade. The announcement comes after the Finance Ministry set the growth outlook for the nation’s economy between 2.6 percent and 2.7 percent this year.

The 14) local currency closed at 1,168.2 won against the greenback Friday, marking its lowest level since January 2017. 15) The figure was down 9.7 won from the previous close.

The signs of a weakening won became more visible after the US dollar index hit 16) a 22-month high on April 23, 17) at an intraday level at 97.78.

By Kim Jee-Hee

Published: 2019-05-02

Source: Korea Joongang Daily

 <Word & Expression>

 1) 월간 하락이 폭이 가장 크다
 2) A greenback is a banknote such as a dollar bill. 미국 달러를 의미한다. 남북전쟁 당시 미국정부가 재정적자를 해소하기 위해 발행한 지폐를 말하는데 지폐의 이면이 녹색이었기 때문에 붙은 이름이다
 3) 블룸버그는 1981년 만들어진 24시간 경제전문 뉴스를 서비스하는 미디어 그룹이다. 창업자 마이클 블룸버그는 나중에 뉴욕 시장이 되었다. 
 4) 약화되었다. 즉 가치가 떨어졌다. 이러면 달러 대비 환율은 올라가기 마련이다. 
 5) 2% 하락 범위 내에서 
 6) 각각, 동의어 individually
 7) 미국 경제를 의미한다
 8)기대 이하의
 9)  미국 경제분석국 (정부 기관)
 10) 1사분기
 11) 국내총생산 GDP
 12) 물러나다
 13) 같은 반복 표현을 피하기 위하여 the first quarter 1사분기 대신 쓴 표현
 14) 시장이 마감되었다. 즉, 외환 시장 종가 기준으로
 15) 앞의 숫자 1,168.2를 뜻한다.
 16) 22개월 최고치 (참고) record high 최고 기록
 17) 하루 중