List of 10 Currencies Shaking the Dominance of the US Dollar
The United States dollar (USD) remains the world’s primary currency and the main benchmark in global financial markets. However, throughout this year, not all currencies have yielded to the greenback.
Amid pressures still looming over many emerging market currencies, several currencies have managed to record sharp appreciations against the USD since the beginning of the year.
Based on Refinitiv data up to the close of trading on Thursday (30 April 2026), the Zambian Kwacha has become the currency with the best performance against the USD. The currency, coded ZMW, has strengthened by 15.75% year-to-date (YTD).
The Kwacha’s performance has garnered significant attention. This is because Zambia is a country in southern Africa known as one of the major copper producers.
With an economy largely supported by commodities, the movement of the Zambian currency is often influenced by global commodity price dynamics and export prospects.
The strengthening of the Zambian Kwacha has far outpaced other currencies. In second place is the Brazilian Real, which has appreciated 9.53% against the USD, followed by the Malagasy Ariary with a 9.28% gain.
The entry of the Malagasy Ariary into the top three is also noteworthy. Madagascar is an island nation in the Indian Ocean, off the east coast of Africa, known for its wealth of commodities ranging from vanilla and cloves to nickel and cobalt.
Here is the list of the top 10 currencies with the strongest performance against the USD throughout 2026:
Countries that have managed to record appreciations against the greenback since the start of the year can be categorised as quite special. This is because the USD is still moving strongly against several major world currencies, especially when global uncertainty increases.
This is reflected in the volatile movement of the US dollar index (DXY) throughout the year. Although year-to-date the DXY has weakened by 0.39%, the index measuring the USD’s strength against six major world currencies experienced a sharp rebound, particularly after the outbreak of the war between the US, Israel, and Iran at the end of February 2026.
Those geopolitical tensions temporarily drove demand for the USD as a safe-haven asset. As a result, the DXY briefly returned to the 100 level before moving more limitedly towards the end of April.
Thus, the strengthening of these 10 currencies is quite interesting because they have overcome the still-high demand for the USD in global markets.
Currencies such as the Zambian Kwacha, Brazilian Real, and Malagasy Ariary are also supported by stronger demand for each country’s domestic currency.
This situation indicates that amid global uncertainties and high demand for the USD, some currencies can still perform more powerfully due to domestic factors, such as export performance, commodity prices, capital flows, and investor confidence in economic prospects.
What about the rupiah?
The rupiah exchange rate has already fallen 3.8% against the dollar throughout this year. The rupiah has even plummeted to an all-time low and is now at Rp17,305/USD.