The lowdown on the euro
Economical Influences and the Euro
It’s hard to believe that the euro’s only been around since 2002 – these days it’s one of the world’s most used currencies, along with the US dollar. In fact, there are more coins and banknotes around in euros than there are in any other type of cash.
You’ll need euros if you’re off to Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal, the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Cyprus, Finland, Malta, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania. They’re the official euro countries, but Andorra, Montenegro, Kosovo and the French Caribbean islands of St. Barts and St. Martin use it too.
It’s because of the euro that we no longer have currencies like French francs, Italian lira or Spanish pesetas. 19 of the countries in the European Union use it, so you won’t have to change money if you travel from one to another – that makes things a lot easier if you’re planning your own European adventure.
Ever wondered where the symbol for the euro (€) came from? As well as looking a lot like the first letter of Europe, it hints at the Greek letter epsilon (Є), a nod to Greece being ‘the cradle of European civilization’. The parallel lines are there to represent stability.
European Euro Historical Market Exchange Rate
Despite significant periods of flux at the beginning of 2015 and 2017, the euro has remained strong against the New Zealand dollar over the last couple of years.1
At the end of September 2014 the NZD sitting at around 0.61 EUR, before dropping significantly over the following months to 1 NZD to approximately 0.71 EUR on the 23rd April 2015.1
The euro stabilized somewhat and by mid-September 2015, the NZD was back to buying 0.55897 EUR.1
By 2016, the NZD to EUR rate began to improve in favour of travellers from New Zealand going to Europe; by early March 1 NZD was converting to around 0.61 EUR, and a few months later on the 11th December 1 New Zealand dollar was converting to approximately 0.67 EUR.1
In 2017 the NZD to EUR exchange rate fluctuated between 1 NZD to 0.57411 and 1 NZD to 0.68278.1
As of 6th November 2018 the NZD was converting to 0.58349 EUR.1
Learn more about the EUR before you travel to Europe and create a currency rate alert so we can notify you when it hits the rate you want.