It ought to be poised for an export-led boom: it has a hugely competitive exchange rate, good infrastructure and has had a decade of high investment in plant and machinery.

ECONOMIST: Argentina's economy

And most companies that export have been worried by South Africa's previously wobbly exchange rate.

ECONOMIST: South Africa

Moreover, German export success for the past decade has been built on the weaker, more competitive exchange rate that came with sharing a currency with southern Europe.

BBC: Europe's four big dilemmas

The step faces several pitfalls, though, and could have unintended consequences, including an unstable exchange rate or a strengthening currency that hobbles the country's nascent export sector just as the country is re-entering the global economy.

WSJ: Myanmar Announces Currency Reform

He did not call for exchange rate targets but there will be international concern that, as countries jostle for export markets, a battle over currencies will follow.

BBC: France takes aim at Britain

Governments cannot use the exchange rate to help the economy adjust to outside shocks, such as a fall in export prices or sharp shifts in capital flows.

ECONOMIST: The ABC of a currency board