Currency exchange and the French elections

If the past year has taught us anything, it’s that nothing can be taken for granted in the world of politics. The French general elections are about to begin, and there are worries that a win for far-right candidate Marine Le Pen could mean chaos for the country, and the rest of Europe.

Up until recently, the chances of Le Pen’s Front National party winning looked slim, but given the UK Referendum outcome and Donald Trump’s election win, it seems that nothing is now out of the question when it comes to the unpredictable world of politics.

If Ms Le Pen’s party was to take power, currency would be one of the big concerns for not only France, but Europe as a whole, and particularly those nations who adopted the euro as their currency. Political uncertainty and unexpected results can have severe impacts on global currency values, and they often send exchange rates rocketing high, or spiraling lower. Experts have been predicting for some time that a Le Pen win would mark a short-term crash for the euro, with the potential for the currency to drop in value by as much as 10% in the election aftermath.

Concerns also extend to the question of the entire future of the EU. 2016 was marked by the UK decision to leave the European Union and there are fears that other countries could look to go down the same route if certain political forces are successful in upcoming domestic elections.

France was one of the nations highlighted back in June 2016 as being a ‘risk’ in terms of right-leaning parties pushing for their own countries to leave the EU, and it seems that Marine Le Pen has leanings towards this approach, should she come to power.