British pound drops against the dollar

Amidst campaigns to determine the fate of Britain’s membership of the European Union, the pound has witnessed its sharpest decline in value since the 2008 financial crises creating a political basket of gold on both sides of the campaign.

In the four days that followed London’s Mayor, Boris Johnson, declare to support Britain’s exit from the EU; a defiance to the Prime Minister, David Cameron, the pound dropped 5cents to settle a seven-year low against the US dollar in all money exchange outlets.

The central question in the hearts of many people is whether they will be richer or poorer should Britain vote to exit. According to Cameron, Britain dropping out of the EU is like taking a leap in the dark. Meanwhile, HSBC and Goldman Sachs have cautioned that upon leaving the EU the pound could subsequently lose an extra fifth of its value.

Pro-Europeans are advising that the current hiccup in the currency is a sign of what could happen in the future should Britain decide to leave. However, the opposition has declared that voters would not give in to scaremongering carried out by independent banks that had warned of the repercussions of Britain withdrawing from the EU in the 1990’s.

According to Richard Trice, who is a supporter of the Leave.EU campaign, multinational banks are seeking to create volatility as it suits them in terms of profitability.

In the last week of February, most money exchange firms quoted the Sterling averaged at $1.3910 which was a seven-year low and heading for its worst weekly performance ever since 2009.

Following the poor performance towards the end of February, the Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, commented on the matter term it as a warning of the impact to come for leaving the EU. Hammond told parliament that voting to leave would create an uncertainty of the future which would further generate an adverse reaction in the financial markets.

According to the campaign supporting Britain to remain in the EU, the sterling pound could lose up to twenty percent more in value should the country decide to exit. In a nutshell, the exit would, therefore, mean that the prices of petrol, shopping, household gadgets and holidays would rise.

Britain’s relationship with its EU counterparts has been centralized on its currencies fate as well as the fact that London dominates the $5.3 trillion a day worldwide Forex market. Since the pound is one of the oldest currencies still in use, it has been an accepted symbol of Britain’s imposing might as well as a British exceptionalism.

The £ sign is utilized by the UK’s Independence Party as part of the emblem, and the Prime Minister David Cameron praised his European deal assuring it provided security for the currency. In a statement made by Cameron in regards to the deal, he said that not only had the deal permanently protected the pound and the country’s right to use it, but also ensured that Britain would not be discriminated. However, Cameron has not made any public statement regarding the fall of the sterling pound.

According to the deputy director of ‘Britain Stronger in Europe’ Lucy Thomas, the unpleasantness of the depreciating currency underlined the dangers of the country voting to leave the EU. Furthermore, the economic security of Britain would be put to risk not to mention that family finances would suffer a negative impact as well. Thomas also added that it was imperative for Britain to retain access to Europe’s 500 million customer market; just the possibility of leaving the EU has sparked a depreciation of the pound.

According to the CEO of Merlin Entertainment, Nick Varney, a weak pound would have a good effect on the British industry because it would be good for exports as well as tourism. He also added that should Britain make an exit, and the pound falls further in value, it didn’t strike him as an adverse outcome but rather a good one.