Sterling tumbled to a record low against the euro yesterday and to its weakest level against the dollar for over two years after Alistair Darling's weekend comments about the economy facing its biggest challenge for 60 years, The Guardian reports.
Although Treasury officials stressed that the chancellor was talking about the credit crunch and high oil and food prices facing the world economy more generally, traders sold the pound heavily, pushing it to less than $1.80 at one point and to 81.4p to the euro. A month ago the pound would buy $2 and a euro could be bought for 78p. Bank of England data show that sterling has fallen almost 5% in the past month against a basket of major currencies, pummelled by a string of weak economic data, suggesting growth had ground to a halt in the second quarter of the year. THE GOVERNMENT-BACKED Ko...
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