Strong dollar, a stronger America

On a visit to Washington DC last week for the annual spring meeting of the World Bank and IMF, India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, responding to a question about the Indian rupee falling against the US dollar, said "I will not look at it as rupee sliding, I would look at it as dollar strengthening."

Social media smackdown was swift. Snarky memes and putdowns ranged from gibes like "We did not lose the match, the opposition team won" to "The ship is not sinking; water level is ascending inside the ship." Among the harshest taunts was, "We are not hungry; other countries are eating more" - a reference to India's worsening position (107th) in the global hunger index.

Sitharaman was not entirely wrong though. Her subsequent explanation that the Indian rupee has performed much better than many other currencies -- an authentic claim -- against the incessantly strengthening dollar was lost in transmission because the first comment was easier to turn into memes and mocking headlines. The moment spoke to the dangers of guileless communication in the age of social media, which is ever ready to turn an innocuous word or sentence into a scathing meme.

Indeed, the Indian rupee has fared relatively well against the dollar compared to many other currencies. The greenback’s value in recent months has jumped nearly 20 per cent according to the US Dollar Index, which measures the currency against a basket of major trading partners, including the British pound, Euro, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar, Swiss franc etc. The pound, which once brought in four dollars at a time the sun never set on the British empire, and fetched two dollars more recently, came almost on par earlier this month at $1.03. The Japanese yen has lost 22 per cent, the Korean won 18 per cent, and the Turkish lira a stunning 28 per cent. Currencies of countries from Malaysia to South Africa have suffered. Even the mighty Chinese Yuan has slid to a two-year low against the -- for now -- mightier dollar.

Many developing nations are worse off, with currencies of countries such as Sri Lanka and Pakistan getting crushed, the situation aggravated by domestic crises. Compared to some of these countries, India's rupee slide of around 10 percent is relatively modest. Although it hurts the entire country with hikes in prices of everything from fuel to food because of the consequent rise in import bill and inflation, which the poor bear stoically, it bites India's chattering classes as well. Hence the stinging attack on Sitharaman.