How Does the Government Regulate Exchange Rates?

Money mix of foreign currency notes

By Kimberly Amadeo   Updated May 09, 2021  Reviewed By Thomas J. Brock

The government indirectly regulates exchange rates, because most currency exchange rates are set on the open foreign exchange market (forex). In some countries, like China, the exchange rate is fixed, and the government directly controls it. This control of the yuan, in turn, affects the U.S. dollar. The yuan is loosely pegged to the U.S. dollar.

Government Influence

The U.S. government has various tools to influence the U.S. dollar exchange rate against foreign currencies. The nation's central bank—known as the Federal Reserve (Fed)—is an independent arm of the government. It indirectly changes exchange rates when it raises or lowers the fed funds rate—the rate banks charge to lend to each other.

For example, if the Fed lowers the rate, this drives down interest rates throughout the U.S. banking system and increases the supply of money, which tends to weaken the dollar relative to other currencies, given the anticipated inflationary pressure. The diminished rates also tend to weaken demand for dollar-denominated assets, which can have a knock-on effect on the value of the currency.

Treasury Department Role

The Treasury Department is a government agency that also indirectly affects the exchange rate. It prints more money. This printing increases the supply and weakens the dollar. It can also borrow more money from other countries. That's done by selling Treasury notes, which increases the supply of money and increases the U.S. debt, and both will send the dollar's value down.

The third government tool is the use of expansionary fiscal policies. Generally, these policies weaken the dollar, because they increase the supply of money.  However, these policies can also improve economic growth, which tends to attract domestic and foreign investors to dollar-denominated assets. This demand can often overshadow the expansion in the supply of dollars.

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