GBP slipping rapidly

[MobileB]

I moved some money to Spain in October. I need to move some more across in the next month. I have just checked and if I had moved the money today instead of October it would have cost me £5000 more. It is a 12% shift in 4 months (in my case for the worse). For a company trading in Europe to have that sort of shift is near on impossible to plan or budget against.

 

Pound is currently in freefall - I know someone said it closed last night at €1.29 but that is the XE mid-range rate. In reality, most would have been lucky to get more than €1.275 yesterday and it is currently at less than €1.26.

 

Yes, the rate is better than a few years ago, but thankfully, I am not attempted to trade a few years but attempting to trade now. This uncertainty is doing no one any good.

 

Just remember, when you all go on your holidays this year and the uncertainty is still there and suddenly your €4 Euro pints cost £3.20 or more instead of £2.85 last year that is just one of the consequences.

Edited February 19, 2016 by MobileB

[foxy lady]

 

Just remember, when you all go on your holidays this year and the uncertainty is still there and suddenly your €4 Euro pints cost £3.20 or more instead of £2.85 last year that is just one of the consequences.

 

Well 5 years ago we went to South Africa and only got around 11 Rand for our Pound. This year we got just short of 24. So our Pounds buy us double the amount of Boschendal Shiraz. I'll settle for that.

[MobileB]

Well 5 years ago we went to South Africa and only got around 11 Rand for our Pound. This year we got just short of 24. So our Pounds buy us double the amount of Boschendal Shiraz. I'll settle for that.

When I went to South Africa a few years ago got 29 to pound. As mentioned elsewhere these things go up and down depending on the economy at the time of the various countries.

 

What I am saying is the uncertainly is doing the pound no favours against all major currencies at the moment. I don't think a vote to leave EU will help either to be honest.

[L00b]

Just remember, when you all go on your holidays this year and the uncertainty is still there and suddenly your €4 Euro pints cost £3.20 or more instead of £2.85 last year that is just one of the consequences.

The € spent most of the 2011-2015 period above the £0.80 conversion mark, and a sizeable portion of 2013 above £0.85.

 

It's only just nudging £0.77 now, from a low of £0.70 in late 2015 (wherein most of the £ gains were made from mid-2014 against the economically-moribund €zone).

 

Panic over.

What I am saying is the uncertainly is doing the pound no favours against all major currencies at the moment.

True, but it's a blip (like so many others), and nothing more.

I don't think a vote to leave EU will help either to be honest.

The economic consequences of a Brexit are difficult enough to quantify, without having to guesstimate their impact on the strength of the £.

 

Objectively, run like the theoretical game that it currently is, there's just as much pushing for a Swiss Francs-like strengthening of the currency, as pushing against

 

Put it that way: even in a worst case scenario, the £ isn't going to turn into ZWD anytime soon

Edited February 19, 2016 by L00b

[tzijlstra]

Surely you've been making points about the ramifications of having the referendum, not about the ramifications of one decision or another.

It doesn't tell us anything about what the better decision to come from the referendum would be.

 

For me it's about sovereignty and democracy. In the EU sovereignty has been lost, and democracy gets perpetually weaker.

 

I've said this countless times before, but not sure if I said it to you: sovereignty and democracy is all in the eye of the beholder, the UK is just as (un)democratic as the EU, what you are saying is that you see yourself more as a Brit than a European, and use that as an argument against the EU, which is fine but incredibly subjective. Other than that the sovereignty and democracy argument holds no sway in this debate.

 

Actually the way you set the thread up seemd anti GB and quite gleeful in a perceibed misfortune. You dont help your European cause.

 

It's a referendum and people can vote how they wish. What they fail to appreciate in Brussels is just how strong the people in the UK feel about immigration, since we are one of the few countries who have increasing net migration. I think the UK has gone froma pro EU country to one which is genuinely undecided whether it wants to be in the EU.

 

It doesnt mind trade, but I think it rejects the rest. There is a serious and real possibility we will leave. What cameron is negotiating is almost irrelevant and the fact its dragged on just reminds people they would rather be out. Its not even as though the changes are that big.

 

I am not anti-GB and I certainly don't like being called that. I am also in favour of the referendum, but only if both sides get the opportunity to explain their point of view. On this forum it appears that if you are pro-EU you are automatically anti-UK, it is this little Englander syndrome that I can't stand.

 

The immigration factor is indeed a major player in this referendum and that is exactly what I find frustrating, immigration isn't going to drop when the UK leaves the EU, it can't, the UK depends on migration to keep its economy afloat. The referendum is not a magic bullet to end migration, far from, yet it is the key-topic in all this debate thanks to Cameron pandering to the UKIP vote. Politicians are scared stiff at the moment, their most trusted advisors explain why we can't do without migrants yet a significant portion of the country is (rightfully) fed-up with migration. Instead of tackling the problem head on and appropriately Cameron is fencing with fake promises - Benefits for migrants. it is a load of nonsense, migrants don't come here for benefits. Period. You can ask them yourself, you will genuinely not find a single (in work) migrant say: Ah yeah, I came because we get lots of child-benefit etc.. They come here because there is work and Britain is a nice place to live, in fact, a lot of them come here because they are actively recruited by employers who are completely fed-up trying to find enough workers.

 

In the mean-time issues like Pagehall are put under the microscope to demonstrate that there are indeed at least thousands of people here that make a mess - ignoring the millions that are putting in effort and work to integrate, make a living and help Britain, people who love the UK I might add.

[unbeliever]

I've said this countless times before, but not sure if I said it to you: sovereignty and democracy is all in the eye of the beholder, the UK is just as (un)democratic as the EU, what you are saying is that you see yourself more as a Brit than a European, and use that as an argument against the EU, which is fine but incredibly subjective. Other than that the sovereignty and democracy argument holds no sway in this debate.

 

The UK constitution has been heavily modified without the consent of the UK people. The UK government has no right to transfer power over the UK people in an irreversible way without their direct consent. This is crucial. In no other way can one UK government create policy that a later UK government cannot reverse.

 

Each transfer of power should have required the approval of the UK people, but they have been routinely.

Our continued membership of the EU will see more and more authority over the UK people transferred by one government in a manner that the next government cannot reverse.

The only solution to this is to withdraw from the EU. Since it has become clear that the power transfers cannot be reversed by the government selectively; the only solution is to take them all back and then later governments can ask permission by referenda if they want to transfer any of them back.

 

My own preference would be complete exit until the EU stabilises into what I fully expect to be a highly integrated federal structure like the US. Once it has settled down, I will consider whether to support UK membership.

[GLASGOWOODS]

I moved some money to Spain in October. I need to move some more across in the next month. I have just checked and if I had moved the money today instead of October it would have cost me £5000 more. It is a 12% shift in 4 months (in my case for the worse). For a company trading in Europe to have that sort of shift is near on impossible to plan or budget against.

 

Pound is currently in freefall - I know someone said it closed last night at €1.29 but that is the XE mid-range rate. In reality, most would have been lucky to get more than €1.275 yesterday and it is currently at less than €1.26.

 

Yes, the rate is better than a few years ago, but thankfully, I am not attempted to trade a few years but attempting to trade now. This uncertainty is doing no one any good.

 

Just remember, when you all go on your holidays this year and the uncertainty is still there and suddenly your €4 Euro pints cost £3.20 or more instead of £2.85 last year that is just one of the consequences.

 

No big deal. Still cheaper than a holiday pint in the UK.

[MobileB]

My own preference would be complete exit until the EU stabilises into what I fully expect to be a highly integrated federal structure like the US. Once it has settled down, I will consider whether to support UK membership.

 

Working on the presumption that they would let us back in having snubbed them and taken ourselves out to live like Norway, Switzerland and Iceland (coincidentally the three most expensive places to live in Europe)

[unbeliever]

Working on the presumption that they would let us back in having snubbed them and taken ourselves out to live like Norway, Switzerland and Iceland (coincidentally the three most expensive places to live in Europe)

 

There are rules for entry and exit. We'd lose our Euro opt-opt, but that's about it. The opt-opt is only temporary realistically anyway.

[foxy lady]

Working on the presumption that they would let us back in having snubbed them and taken ourselves out to live like Norway, Switzerland and Iceland (coincidentally the three most expensive places to live in Europe)

 

Apart from the 4 EU countries where it is more expensive.

 

Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Luxembourg

Edited February 20, 2016 by foxy lady