The Cheapest Money in the World: The Top 10 Currencies That Lost the Most Value in 2025

What is the cheapest money in the world? This question has become even more relevant in 2025, a year marked by global economic crises, persistent inflation, and political instability across several continents. While Brazil faced a 21.52% devaluation of the real in 2024, reaching R$ 5.44 per dollar in September, the situation in other countries is even more critical. Some nations are experiencing a scenario where their own national currency has become practically useless, turning everyday life into a constant economic challenge.

The story is always the same in these cases: people receive their salaries, and days later, realize that the money no longer buys even half of what it used to. It’s a silent erosion of purchasing power affecting millions worldwide. To better understand this phenomenon, we need to know which currencies top this devaluation ranking and understand the mechanisms behind this economic collapse.

Understand Why Some Currencies Lose Value So Quickly

Extreme devaluation of a currency never happens by chance. It’s always the result of a combination of economic and political factors that destroy investor and citizen confidence. There are six main causes that lead money to lose its value:

Uncontrolled hyperinflation is the first factor. When prices of goods and services increase exponentially—situations where prices double from one month to the next—local money simply cannot keep up. While Brazil worries about inflation around 5%, some countries face scenarios where their currency can’t even hold its value for a few days.

Chronic political instability completes the picture. Coups, civil wars, frequent government changes—when there’s no legal security or institutional predictability, investors flee. In this context, any currency becomes just colored paper.

International economic sanctions act as forced isolation. When a country is cut off from the global financial system, its local currency loses all utility for international transactions. Foreign trade becomes impossible, and the economy collapses.

Scarce international reserves leave the Central Bank powerless. Without enough dollars or euros to defend the currency during crises, devaluation becomes inevitable. It’s like an individual without savings facing an emergency.

Capital flight represents mass panic. When even citizens prefer to keep their savings in dollars hidden “under the mattress” rather than in their national currency, it’s clear that confidence has completely vanished.

Combined, these factors turn a nation’s money into a symbol of economic fragility. It’s in this context that the global ranking of the weakest currencies emerges, which we will explore next.

The 10 Weakest Currencies in the World and Their Contexts

1. Lebanese Pound (LBP) — The Absolute Champion

Lebanon unquestionably leads this devaluation ranking. Officially, the exchange rate should be 1,507.5 pounds per dollar, but this rate has been non-existent in practice since 2020. In the black market, where real transactions occur, you need over 90,000 pounds to buy a single dollar. The situation is so severe that banks limit withdrawals to trivial amounts, and many merchants in Beirut outright refuse the local currency, accepting only US dollars. Uber drivers prefer to be paid in dollars, a clear sign that the national currency has lost its basic function as a medium of exchange.

2. Iranian Rial (IRR) — Victim of Sanctions

American sanctions have turned the rial into a currency of a fragile economy. With R$ 100, a person can become “a millionaire” in Iranian rials—the conversion reaches 7,751.94 rials per real. The government tries to control the exchange rate, but multiple parallel rates thrive on the streets. An interesting phenomenon emerges: young Iranians are migrating massively to cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin and Ethereum have become more reliable stores of value than the national currency itself. For many Iranians, investing in cryptocurrencies has become the only realistic way to preserve and grow capital.

3. Vietnamese Dong (VND) — The Growing Economy’s Case

This presents a different pattern: Vietnam has an expanding economy, but its currency remains historically weak due to monetary policy decisions. Withdrawing 1 million dong from an ATM results in an amount that looks like it’s from a fiction series. For tourists, this is wonderful—$50 provides weeks of comfortable spending. For Vietnamese locals, however, it means expensive imports and limited international purchasing power.

4. Lao Kip (LAK) — The Weakness of a Small Economy

Laos faces a complicated economic structure: a small economy, critical dependence on imports, and persistent inflation. The kip is so weak that at the border with Thailand, merchants prefer to accept Thai baht. This practical rejection reveals the real state of the currency.

5. Indonesian Rupiah (IDR) — The Largest Regional Economy’s Case

Despite being Southeast Asia’s largest economy, the rupiah has never strengthened—remaining historically weak since 1998. Indonesia offers an interesting advantage for Brazilian tourists: Bali is extraordinarily cheap. With R$ 200 per day, it’s possible to live comfortably. This disparity reflects the reality of millions of Indonesians earning in a weakened currency.

6. Uzbek Sum (UZS) — Heritage of a Closed Economy

Approximately 12,800 Uzbek soms equal one dollar. Uzbekistan has implemented significant economic reforms in recent years, but the sum still bears the weight of decades of an isolated economy. The country tries to attract foreign investment, but the currency remains weak and devalued.

7. Guinean Franc (GNF) — Wealth in Resources, Poverty in Currency

Guinea has abundant gold and bauxite—impressive mineral wealth. However, chronic political instability and widespread corruption prevent this natural wealth from translating into monetary strength. The Guinean Franc (about 8,600 GNF per dollar) symbolizes the disconnect between natural resources and economic stability.

8. Paraguayan Guarani (PYG) — The Neighbor’s Devaluation

Our neighbor Paraguay maintains a relatively stable economy, but the guarani is traditionally weak—around 7.42 PYG per real. For Brazilians, this means Ciudad del Este remains a shopping paradise, where purchasing power multiplies.

9. Malagasy Ariary (MGA) — Poverty Reflected in Currency

Madagascar ranks among the poorest nations in the world, and its ariary reflects this reality. About 4,500 MGA equals one dollar. Imports become prohibitively expensive, and the population’s international purchasing power is virtually nil.

10. Burundian Franc (BIF) — Ending with Extreme Fragility

The Burundian franc trades at about 550 BIF per real—so weak that for volume purchases, people literally carry bags of physical money. Chronic political instability in Burundi manifests directly in the fragility of its currency.

Real Stories: How the Cheapest Money Impacts People’s Lives

Numbers and exchange rates tell only part of the story. The true impact of the world’s cheapest money manifests in the daily decisions of millions. A journalist shared his experience in Lebanon: in Beirut, ordinary scenes become surreal. A friend traveling in the region photographed a bundle of notes that looked like Monopoly money—more than 50,000 Lebanese pounds, worth just R$ 3.00.

In Tehran, the situation has gone beyond simple monetary weakening. The young population, facing inflation that consumes savings, has found in Bitcoin and Ethereum an alternative. Investing in cryptocurrencies is not just speculative—it’s a means of economic survival for many Iranian families.

These scenarios illustrate the reality behind the statistics: the world’s cheapest money is not just a financial curiosity. It’s a raw expression of political crises, institutional instability, and loss of confidence in the economy.

What the Cheapest Money in the World Teaches About Investing

For Brazilian investors, the ranking of the cheapest money offers valuable economic lessons. First lesson: fragile economies pose enormous risks. Devalued currencies may seem like cheap opportunities, but the reality is that these countries face deep crises with little hope of near-term recovery.

Second lesson: practical opportunities exist in tourism and consumption. Destinations with weakened currencies offer real financial advantages for those arriving with dollars, euros, or even Brazilian reais. Bali and Ciudad del Este exemplify this dynamic.

Third lesson: watching currencies collapse provides practical learning in macroeconomics. The effects of inflation, corruption, and instability cease to be abstract concepts and become visible realities. This understanding is essential for any investor aiming to build resilient portfolios.

The world’s cheapest money is a symptom—not a disease. The disease is lack of confidence, absence of solid institutions, and political instability. Learning from these lessons is a way to ensure your capital maintains and expands its value over time, protected from extreme scenarios that turn currencies into worthless colored paper.