Pound drops to being almost on par with the Euro after hitting 31-month low

The Pound has dropped to roughly the same level as the Euro
Shutterstock / Adam Gilchrist
Katy Clifton10 August 2019

The Pound fell again on Friday night leaving the currency worth only a fraction more than the Euro.

The pound fell to a 31-month low on Friday, after the UK's economy shrank for the first time since 2012 in the second quarter of the year.

On Saturday morning, one pound would buy just 1.06 Euro. Brits were being offered a return of 230 Euros for £218 for holiday spending cash by the Post Office today.

The BBC’s Economics Editor Faisal Islam said Sterling closed against the US dollar last night at $1.2028. The last time it was lower on the Bank of England’s daily chart was 34 years ago in April 1985, he said.

Sterling closed last night at around 1.07 euro.

The Pound against the Euro
Google

The pound was trading as low as 1.206 US dollars around lunchtime on Friday, before ending the day just under 1.208 dollars, down 0.54%. This was its lowest level since January 2017.

It followed data showing the UK's first negative quarter of gross domestic product (GDP) since 2012, with a decline of 0.2% between April and June.

Fiona Cincotta, senior market analyst at City Index, said: "The outlook for the pound remains extremely fragile as the prospect of a no-deal Brexit increases

"With the blame game between the EU and the UK in full swing, the chances of the two sides renegotiating the Irish backstop appears slim; instead preparations for a worst-case scenario, no-deal Brexit are being prioritised."

He said: “This is a challenging period across the global economy, with growth slowing in many countries. But the fundamentals of the British economy are strong – wages are growing, employment is at a record high and we are forecast to grow faster than Germany, Italy and Japan this year.

“The government is determined to provide certainty to people and businesses on Brexit that's why we are clear that the UK is leaving the EU on 31 October.”

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