If the economy does recover as fast as the government hopes, the currency advantage now enjoyed by Europeans may disappear and the travellers with it.
"We certainly can take advantage of currency strength in one location versus another, " says Chief Financial Officer Ronald Remick, who came over to K-Tron in 1999 from what was then known as Arco Chemical.
But as long as it remains in the single currency, Cyprus - like the rest of southern Europe - cannot gain a cheap international price advantage by devaluing its currency.
But, as acknowledged in the paper, governments intervene in currency markets to pursue a variety of policy objectives (not just to secure an exporter advantage), including to defend the currency from competitive devaluations.
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Through a system of subsidies and artificially depreciated currency, Kirchner managed to take advantage of favorable global tailwinds.
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However, to take advantage of a weak currency, Honda is opening a new plant in Japan, its first in almost 50 years.
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"European banks are taking advantage of a low currency, and the severe punishment banks and financial assets have received in the U.S., " said Marta Sanchez, analyst with Ahorro.
Back in the world of floating exchange rates, countries wishing to have a trading advantage can manipulate their currency to be low and thereby have ultra-competitive prices for export goods.
When the euro was falling, that advantage was wiped out by currency losses.
Germany takes great advantage of a vastly undervalued currency that renders its exports far cheaper than they would be otherwise.
"A portfolio manager who's evaluating an exporter will need to balance the competitive advantage of having its home currency depreciate with the losses that result from translating that depreciating home currency back into dollars, " Mr. Webman says.
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But there are fears that a prolonged and deliberate weakening of the Japanese yen could spark a currency war, if other countries that trade or compete with Japan were to also take steps to devalue their currency, in order to gain a trade advantage.
Also a liquid currency and a strong balance sheet are a competitive advantage.
During that time, a member of the capitalist class, Andrew Carnegie, argued the opposite: that, in fact, a sound currency was the friend of the common man, while a floating currency often gave speculators and financial sophisticates an unfair advantage.
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In time, having a strong currency may once again come to be seen as an advantage, not a handicap.
Chief Executive Charles Li is refocusing HKEx to take advantage of expectations that China will become a net exporter of capital as currency restrictions are relaxed, with growing commodities and fixed-income products to diversify away from low-margin cash equities.
Because XP is currency in these games, and whoever has more of it first is at a distinct advantage.
Other industrialised economies such as the US and eurozone have expressed unease that the weaker yen, which gives Japan a competitive advantage, could be used as an excuse by other exporter nations to intervene directly in the currency markets in order to weaken their own currencies.
Second, by endorsing a rise in the Chinese currency relative to the dollar, the president and those who support this policy put at risk the vast soft power and competitive advantage the U.S. enjoys by providing Asia and the rest of the world a reliable currency for engaging in trade in goods and financial instruments.
Romania, for example, whose currency dropped 20% last year, has seen a big rise in labour costs wipe out much of its price advantage.
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