bobd22

It seems to me that Mr King has seen that the pound could rise against the euro so to prevent this has said that he wouldn't rule out even more quantative easing hence keeping the pound static against the euro. Even at 1.15 I would rather have that than 1.04 last year. If only it would get above 1.20 I'd be happier

Dick Dasterdly

Anyone remember what the pound was worth against the Euro ten years ago?

johnh009

The Greek debt is not going to go away, and, in a couple of months when interest rates start to rise, it will be even harder to pay.

dmu

£1.50.
When the € arrived, 10 French francs corresponded to 1.5 € and the rate was 10 FF to the £.

jdr

Oh yeah, you mean like the UK and the yankee dollar.

jdr

Too bloody right Matt.

johncar61

Yep, it was nothing.

The Euro did not exist ten years ago.

The name euro was officially adopted on 16 December 1995.[6] The euro was introduced to world financial markets as an accounting currency on 1 January 1999, replacing the former European Currency Unit (ECU) at a ratio of 1:1. Euro coins and banknotes entered circulation on 1 January 2002.


On 1st Jan 2002 £1 was 1.613014 to the euro

dmu

Sorry to split hairs, but €€€ existed in 1999 for cheques and money transfers.

steviedeluxe

Trouble is, the Brits owe far more debt. Which makes it very hard to see a big rise in the pound against the Euro, although it's not impossible in the long run. We can always hope

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._external_debt

External debt (% of GDP)

UK 365.44%
Germany 159.92%
France 237.62%
Spain 150.65%

Funnily enough the figure for Greece isn't so high there - 48.41% - but their figures are from 2007 prior to the credit crunch.

The Dean

Actually the BBC's charts are pretty good.............

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/f...elve_month.stm


You can play around clicking on different currencies, time frames (the intra-day charts are quite interesting), etc.....

I'll have more to say on the Eurozone later........

johncar61

I am a little confused about these figures but they seem to include money invested in a country

Luxenbourg shows 4,973.68% of GDP !!!!!!
Does that mean the are in deep trouble ?

steviedeluxe

Luxembourg is a very curious place indeed. According to Wiki the country has a highly developed economy, with the highest Gross Domestic Product per capita in the world. It's only hearsay, but friends of mine who lived close by told me organised crime was very big there, but obviously that could just be malicious talk.

icharus

Wikipedia isn't really the most reliable of sources, ok for an overview at best.

The Euro isn't going to crash. The British media delights in these doom and gloom stories re Europe.

The current problems with Greece will be sorted out by France and Germany in some way, probably a small bailout, with strict conditions attached, such as compelling the Greeks to actually pay their tax's. It's highly unlikely that the IMF will be allowed to get involved, as it's American dominated, and would send even worse signals about the Eurozone to the markets.

There's a strong chance this current crisis will herald the next phase of European integration, in terms of financial intergration, as having a single currency without this is widely held to be unworkable.

This will pose interesting questions for the future of the UK in the EU. We certainly do live in interesting times

steviedeluxe

Good post. Since a majority of Brits have been convinced by the media to be anti the EU and the Euro currency, I wonder if eventually the UK will pull away from the EU. Of course the doomsters could be right, and if the EU breaks apart good old GB can take advantage?

johnh009

I think the reality is, that wherever you are in the World, people and governments have got to stop living on credit. Most economies are too closely tied and what happens to one, can affect us all. I am in Canada where the macro economy is quite good, relatively, but the micro economy is questionable. This because of dependence on the US economy. Gone are the days when a new aquisition was a symbol of success, now it is just a symbol of debt.