UK deemed unfit for euro - papers 8 Jan

"Great Britain does not meet the entry criteria for the euro," said Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, the ECB's board member in charge of international affairs. "The public deficit will rise to around 6pc (of GDP) in 2009 and even higher in 2010. Sterling's exchange rate is not yet sufficiently stable," he told Italy's La Repubblica newspaper. The entry rules impose a deficit ceiling of 3pc of GDP, two years of currency stability, and a public debt limit of 60pc of GDP. The rules were waived for political reasons to let Italy, Belgium and Greece into EMU, but terms are becoming stricter as the ECB s...