How much has your currency lost against the US dollar?

If you’re Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi or Sri Lankan and working in Kuwait, this is about the money you send home every month. A new two-decade comparison of exchange rates shows just how much weaker your home currency has become against the US dollar since 2005 – and the numbers are bigger than most people realise.

The good news, if you can call it that, is that a weaker rupee or taka generally means more local currency for every dinar or dollar you remit. The bad news is what it says about inflation and the cost of living for the families you’re sending that money to.

So who exactly does this affect?

This hits anyone in Kuwait who regularly sends money to Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India or Bangladesh – which covers a huge share of Kuwait’s expat workforce, from construction and domestic workers to office staff and business owners. If your salary is in Kuwaiti dinars and your family’s expenses are in rupees or taka, these numbers directly shape how far your remittance stretches.

Kuwait’s own currency isn’t part of this comparison, since the dinar is pegged to a basket of currencies rather than the dollar alone. But the dollar comparison still matters, because most of these home currencies are quoted and tracked against the dollar, and that’s usually the reference point money transfer services use.

Why has Pakistan and Sri Lanka’s currency fallen so much more than India’s or Bangladesh’s?

The data points to structural trade deficits, heavy external debt obligations and broader economic pressure as the main drivers behind Pakistan and Sri Lanka’s sharper declines. India and Bangladesh also depreciated, but at a noticeably slower pace – what’s being called a more