Money, exchange rates & financial institutions

In this lesson we discover why money was invented and how it keeps a modern economy running. We start with the need for exchange and the awkward problems of barter, then learn the four functions of money and the qualities that make money good. We define an exchange rate — the price of one currency in terms of another — and, because the Namibian dollar is pegged one-to-one to the South African rand, we practise converting between N$ and US$ with a clear, step-by-step write-on sum. We see how a rising or falling exchange rate helps some people and hurts others, and finish by meeting the three great financial institutions: commercial banks, the central Bank of Namibia, and the Namibian Stock Exchange.