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The Sunday Times Pound’s fall ‘the worst devaluation in history’
Trade boom fails to arrive after sterling’s post-referendum plunge
Sterling’s Brexit-fuelled decline over the past year has been Britain’s “least successful” currency devaluation in history, an analysis of the latest growth figures has revealed.
The UK’s trade balance has worsened by 1.8% of GDP since the final quarter of 2015 — before worries over the EU referendum began to hurt the pound. Rising exports have been outstripped by an even faster rise in imports, according to Samuel Tombs of consultancy Pantheon Macroeconomics.
The lacklustre figures are particularly worrying given the upturn in the global economy at the start of this year. “The story in 2008-9 was that exports didn’t benefit much because our core market in Europe was suffering,” said Brian Hilliard, chief UK economist at Société Générale. “This time round, Europe is going gangbusters, so it’s pretty disappointing the trade picture is even worse.”
“So far, the depreciation has come with much greater costs than benefits,” said Tombs.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/b...tory-czkfwhznc (subscription only)