Friday, 27 January 2012

The Euro Exchange Rate In Relation To The British Pound

By Jeremy Winters


The Euro exchange rate has often been discussed in the money market right from when the currency was first launched in 2002. As soon as the currency was unveiled, there were twelve countries that gave up their own individual currency and went to the Euro. The UK was one country which did not accept the Euro as the market for British Pounds in the exchange market was pretty strong. And although the Euro is basically the currency of Europe, the British Pound has mostly enjoyed a higher valuation compared with Euros.

On January 1, 1999 the Euro emerged as an electronic currency. This meant that the currency could be traded like a commodity in the forex market. The introduction of the Euro was considered a stepping stone for Europe which desired to have a centralized bank for Europe since 1970, in order that the overall economy of Europe could be stabilized. On the trading market, the Euro has consistently traded in the range of 1.4 and 1.7 British Pounds.

The United Kingdom's final decision of not using the Euro has always created a bit of a stir within the European financial markets. An article in 2008 reported that the explanation behind Britain's hostility towards the Euro was because of its lack of faith in the currency. Britain didn't trust the Euro exchange rate to be as strong as its own currency. So, adopting the Euro was never really in the picture for Britain, despite the fact that some of the major European countries like Germany and France had already done so.

Britain also had doubts about the survival of the currency, as well as with the British Pound constantly trading above the Euro. Analysts believe that Britain has made the best decision. While the Euro was launched as a forex commodity in 1999, it was launched as a cash currency in 2002 on New Year's Day. This meant that Euros would then be utilized in the countries which agreed to accept the Euro as their currency.

In 2002, a British Pound was equivalent to 1.6 Euros. This slipped to one Euro through the summer season. Since then the Pound has constantly been strong when compared to the Euro exchange rate and it never droped below 1.4 Euros until recently.

Around the end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008, the British Pound saw a large dip in its value. The Pound fell below the Euro for the first time in 2008. The British government noted the dropping interest levels and house bubble burst behind the large dip in the Pound's value. The drop in the value made many people think that Britain should take up the Euro as its currency, however the country is not persuaded as of yet.




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