Fixed rate currency countries
Africa is home to most of the fixed currency countries at 19, with 14 of them using the CFA franc that is pegged to the Euro and three pegged to the South African Rand (ZAR) as part of a Common Monetary Area. The Middle East is another bastion for fixed currency rates, with 7 countries all pegged to the USD. A fixed exchange rate is a regime applied by a government or central bank ties the country's currency official exchange rate to another country's currency or the price of gold. The purpose of a fixed exchange rate system is to keep a currency's value within a narrow band. One country that is loosening its fixed exchange rate is China. It ties the value of its currency, the yuan, to a basket of currencies that includes the dollar. In August 2015, it allowed the fixed rate to vary according to the prior day's closing rate. It keeps the yuan in a tight 2% trading range around that value.