Currency fluctuation during 2019 made expatriates of several countries little richer last year. Among the expatriates in Qatar, the Pakistani nationals emerged as the biggest gainer of currency fluctuation. The Pakistani rupee depreciated around 12 percent in 2019, giving the extra value for their money.

A depreciating currency bodes well for expatriates because they get additional income because of decline while appreciating currency is a bad news for expatriates. The trade tension between United States and China was the biggest factor that roiled currencies across the globe.

For example, one Pakistani rupee was trading at around 37.97 per riyal at the start of January 2019 and it traded at 42.40 per riyal in local market, yesterday. It means that Pakistani expatriate are now getting 4.43 rupee extra, compared to what they were getting at the beginning of 2019.

Nepali and Indian expatriates also benefitted from currency fluctuations as their currencies also declined during the year. Indian rupee depreciated by around 2.4 percent as it started the year at around 19 per riyal and ended the year at 19.45 per riyal.

One Nepalese rupee was trading around 30.48 per Qatari riyal at the beginning of 2019 while the currency closed at 31.15 per riyal yesterday, reflecting a fall of 2.2 percent. Bangladeshi taka weakened to 23.42 per riyal at the start of the year from 23 per riyal at the end of the year, showing a fall of around two percent.

Other currencies have not shown much volatility and delivered a stable performance in last year.

According to the report, Euro was trading at 4.23 per riyal at beginning of the year while it ended that at around 4.12, showing a gain of around 2 percent.

The Philippine peso gained around 3 percent as it closed the year at around 13.91 per riyal compared to 14.40 per riyal at the beginning of the year.

Kenyan Shilling was mostly stable as it opened the year at 27.67 per riyal while traded at 27.53 per riyal on the last day of the year.