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Pound sterling
Pound
£50 banknote(series G)
£50 banknote
(series G)
ISO 4217 Code GBP
User(s)
Inflation 5.1% (12 months ending November 2021)
Method CPI
Pegged by
Subunit
1100 Penny
Symbol £
Penny p
Nickname Quid (singular and plural)
Plural Pounds
Penny Pence
Coins
Banknotes
Freq. used
Rarely used
Printer

The pound sterling (symbol: £; ISO code: GBP), known in some contexts as the British pound, the pound, or sterling, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, the British Antarctic Territory, and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence (singular: penny, abbreviated: p). The "pound sterling" is the oldest currency in continuous use. Some nations that do not use sterling also have currencies called the pound.

Sterling is the fourth most-traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar, the euro, and the Japanese yen. Together with those three currencies and the Chinese yuan, it forms the basket of currencies which calculate the value of IMF special drawing rights. As of mid-2021, sterling is also the fourth most-held reserve currency in global reserves.

The British Crown dependencies of Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man produce their own local issues of sterling (the Guernsey pound, the Jersey pound and the Manx pound) which are considered fully equivalent to UK sterling in their respective regions. The pound sterling is also used in the British Overseas Territories: Gibraltar (alongside the Gibraltar pound), the Falkland Islands (alongside the Falkland Islands pound), and in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha (alongside the Saint Helena pound), others having transitioned to dollar currencies, such as Bermuda in 1970. The Bank of England is the central bank for the pound sterling, issuing its own banknotes, and regulating issuance of banknotes by private banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Sterling banknotes issued by other jurisdictions are not regulated by the Bank of England; their governments guarantee convertibility at par. The pound sterling was also used to varying degrees by colonies in the British Empire.

Names

The full, official name, pound sterling (plural: pounds sterling), is used mainly in formal contexts and also when it is necessary to distinguish the United Kingdom currency from other currencies with the same name. Otherwise the term pound is normally used. The currency name is sometimes abbreviated to just sterling, particularly in the wholesale financial markets, but not when referring to specific amounts; for example, "Payment is accepted in sterling" but never "These cost five sterling". The abbreviations "ster." or "stg." are sometimes used. The term "British pound" is commonly used in less formal contexts, although it is not an official name of the currency. The pound sterling is also referred to as "cable" amongst forex traders. The origins of this term are attributed to the fact that in the 1800s, the dollar/pound sterling exchange rate was transmitted via transatlantic cable. Forex brokers are sometimes referred to as "cable dealers".

There is apparent convergence of opinion However, the perceived narrow window of the issuance of this coin, and the fact that coin designs changed frequently in the period in question, led Philip Grierson to reject this in favour of a more complex theory.

Another argument that the Hanseatic League was the origin for both the origin of its definition and manufacture, and in its name is that the German name for the Baltic is "Ost See", or "East Sea", and from this the Baltic merchants were called "Osterlings", or "Easterlings". In 1260, Henry III granted them a charter of protection. And because the League's money was not frequently debased like that of England, English traders stipulated to be paid in pounds of the "Easterlings", which was contracted to "'sterling". and land for their Kontor, the Steelyard of London, which by the 1340s was also called "Easterlings Hall", or Esterlingeshalle.

For further discussion of the etymology of "sterling", see sterling silver.

The currency sign for the pound sign is £, which is usually written with a single cross-bar (as on sterling bank notes), though a version with a double cross-bar () is also sometimes seen. This symbol derives from medieval Latin documents; the Roman words libra, solidus, and denarius (£sd) referred to pounds, shillings and pence in the British pre-decimal (duodecimal) currency system and the black-letter "L" was the abbreviation for libra, the basic Roman unit of weight.

The ISO 4217 currency code is GBP. Occasionally, the abbreviation "UKP" is used but this is non-standard because the ISO 3166 country code for the United Kingdom is GB (see Terminology of the British Isles). The Crown dependencies use their own (non-ISO) codes: GGP (Guernsey pound), JEP (Jersey pound) and IMP (Isle of Man pound). Stocks are often traded in pence, so traders may refer to pence sterling, GBX (sometimes GBp), when listing stock prices.

A common slang term for the pound sterling or pound is quid, which is singular and plural, except in the common phrase "Quids in!" The term may have come via Italian immigrants from "scudo", the name for a number of coins used in Italy until the 19th century; or from Latin 'quid' via the common phrase quid pro quo, literally, "what for what," or, figuratively, "An equal exchange or substitution".

Subdivisions and other units

Decimal coinage

Since decimalisation in 1971 (see Decimal Day), the pound has been divided into 100 pence (until 1981 described on the coinage as "new pence"). The symbol for the penny is "p"; hence an amount such as 50p (£0.50) properly pronounced "fifty pence" is more colloquially, quite often, pronounced "fifty pee" /fɪfti: pi:/. This also helped to distinguish between new and old pence amounts during the changeover to the decimal system. A decimal halfpenny was issued until 1984 in an attempt to stop inflation but was removed due to having a higher cost to manufacture than its face value.

Pre-decimal

De Alice's Abenteuer im Wunderland Carroll pic 25
The Hatter's hat shows an example of the old pre-decimal system: the hat costs half a guinea (10 shillings and 6 pence).

Prior to decimalisation, the pound was divided into 20 shillings and each shilling into 12 pence, making 240 pence to the pound. The symbol for the shilling was "s."—not from the first letter of the word, but from the Latin solidus. The symbol for the penny was "d.", from the French denier, from the Latin denarius (the solidus and denarius were Roman coins). A mixed sum of shillings and pence, such as 3 shillings and 6 pence, was written as "3/6" or "3s. 6d." and spoken as "three and six" (except for "1/1," "2/1" etc., which were spoken as "one and a penny," "two and a penny," etc.). 5 shillings was written as "5s." or, more commonly, "5/–". The stroke (/) indicating shillings is also known as a solidus and was originally an adaptation of the long s which represented that word.

Various coin denominations had, and in some cases continue to have, special names—such as crown, farthing, sovereign and guinea. See Coins of the pound sterling and List of British coins and banknotes for details.

By the 1950s, coins of Kings George III, George IV and William IV had disappeared from circulation, but coins (at least the penny) bearing the head of any British king or queen from Queen Victoria onwards could be found in circulation. Silver coins were replaced by those in cupro-nickel in 1947 and by the 1960s the silver coins were rarely seen. Silver/cupro-nickel shillings (from any period after 1816) and florins (2 shillings) remained as legal tender after decimalisation (as 5p and 10p respectively) until 1993 and are now officially demonetised.

History

The pound sterling is the world's oldest currency still in use.

Anglo-Saxon

The Pound
A pound = 20 shillings = 240 silver pennies (formerly)

The pound was a unit of account in Anglo-Saxon England, equal to 240 silver pennies and equivalent to one pound weight of silver. It evolved into the modern British currency, the pound sterling.

The accounting system of 4 farthings = 1 penny, 12 pence = 1 shilling, 20 shillings = 1 pound was adopted from that introduced by Charlemagne to the Frankish Empire (see French livre).

The origins of sterling lie in the reign of King Offa of Mercia, (757–796) who introduced the silver penny. It copied the denarius of the new currency system of Charlemagne's Frankish Empire. As in the Carolingian system, 240 pennies weighed 1 pound (corresponding to Charlemagne's libra), with the shilling corresponding to Charlemagne's solidus and equal to 12d. At the time of the penny's introduction, it weighed 22.5 troy grains of fine silver (32 tower grains; about 1.5 g), indicating that the Mercian pound weighed 5,400 troy grains (the Mercian pound became the basis of the tower pound, which weighed 5,400 troy grains, equivalent to 7,680 tower grains, about 350g).

Medieval

The early pennies were struck from fine silver (as pure as was available). However, in 1158, a new coinage was introduced by King Henry II (known as the Tealby penny) which was struck from 0.925 (92.5%) silver. This became the standard until the 20th century and is today known as sterling silver, named after its association with the currency. Sterling silver is harder than the 0.999 (99.9%) fine silver that was traditionally used and so sterling silver coins did not wear down as rapidly as fine silver coins. The English currency was almost exclusively silver until 1344 when the gold noble was successfully introduced into circulation. However, silver remained the legal basis for sterling until 1816.

During the time of Henry III, the pound Sterling equalled the pound weight Tower. In the 28th year of Edward I, the Tale Pound, or Pound Sterling, first began to differ or come short of the Pound weight Tower, from which it drew its origin and to which until now it was equal, for by indenture of that year the pound weight was to contain twenty shillings and three-pence in Tale. In the 27th year of Edward III, the pound Sterling was now but 4/5 of the pound weight, or 9 oz, 12 dwts Tower.By an act of 13 Henry IV. the pound weight of Standard silver was to contain thirty shillings in Tale, or 1-1/2 pound Sterling, therefore the pound Sterling reduced to 2/3 of a pound weight, or 8 oz Tower. The pound Sterling was adjusted in weight several more times thereafter.

In the reign of Henry IV (1399–1413), the penny was reduced in weight to 15 grains (0.97 g) of silver, with a further reduction to 12 grains (0.78 g) in 1464.

Tudor

During the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI, the silver coinage was drastically debased, although the pound was redefined to the troy pound of 5,760 grains (373 g) in 1526. In 1544, a silver coinage was issued containing just one third silver and two-thirds copper—equating to .333 silver, or 33.3% pure. The result was a coin copper in appearance but relatively pale in colour. In 1552, a new silver coinage was introduced, struck in sterling silver. However, the penny's weight was reduced to 8 grains (0.52 g), meaning that 1 troy pound of sterling silver produced 60 shillings of coins. This silver standard was known as the "60-shilling standard" and lasted until 1601 when a "62-shilling standard" was introduced, reducing the penny's weight to 7+2331 grains (0.50 g).

Throughout this period, the size and value of the gold coinage fluctuated considerably.

Unofficial gold standard

In 1663, a new gold coinage was introduced based on the 22 carat fine guinea. Fixed in weight at 44+12 to the troy pound from 1670, this coin's value varied considerably until 1717, when it was fixed at 21 shillings (21/-, 1.05 pounds). However, despite the efforts of Sir Isaac Newton, Master of the Mint, to reduce the guinea's value, this valuation overvalued gold relative to silver when compared to the valuations in other European countries. British merchants sent silver abroad in payments whilst goods for export were paid for with gold. As a consequence, silver flowed out of the country and gold flowed in, leading to a situation where Great Britain was effectively on a gold standard. Aggravating this outflow was the fact that silver was the only commodity accepted by China for exporting goods during this period. From the mid-17th century, around 28 million kilogrammes (62 million pounds) of silver were received by China, principally from European powers, in exchange for Chinese tea and other goods. In order to trade with China, Great Britain had to first trade with the other European nations to receive silver, which led to the East India Company redressing this trade imbalance through the indirect sale of opium to the Chinese.

Domestic offtake further reduced silver in circulation as the improving fortunes of the merchant class led to increased demand for tablewares. Silversmiths had always regarded coinage as a source of raw material, already government verified for fineness. As a result, sterling coins were being melted and fashioned into sterling silverware at an accelerating rate. A 1697 Act of Parliament attempted to stem this tide by raising the minimum acceptable fineness on wrought plate from sterling's 92.5% to a new Britannia silver standard of 95.83%. The product then made solely from melted coins would be found wanting when the silversmith took his wares to the Assay Office, thus discouraging the melting of coins.

Establishment of modern currency

The Bank of England was founded in 1694, followed by the Bank of Scotland a year later. Both began to issue paper money.

Currency of Great Britain (1707) and the United Kingdom (1801)

The pound Scots once had much the same value as the pound sterling, but it suffered far higher devaluation until in the 17th century it was pegged to sterling at a value of 12 pounds Scots = 1 pound sterling.

In 1707, the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland merged to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. In accordance with the Treaty of Union, the currency of Great Britain was sterling, with the pound Scots soon being replaced by sterling at the pegged value.

In 1801, Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland were united to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. However, the Irish pound continued to exist and was not replaced by sterling until January 1826. The conversion rate had long been thirteen Irish pounds to twelve pounds sterling.

Use in the Empire

Sterling circulated in much of the British Empire. In some parts, it was used alongside local currencies. For example, the gold sovereign was legal tender in Canada despite the use of the Canadian dollar. Several colonies and dominions adopted the pound as their own currency. These included Australia, Barbados, British West Africa, Cyprus, Fiji, the Irish Free State, Jamaica, New Zealand, South Africa and Southern Rhodesia. Some of these retained parity with sterling throughout their existence (e.g. the South African pound), whilst others deviated from parity after the end of the gold standard (e.g. the Australian pound). These currencies and others tied to sterling constituted the sterling area.

The original English colonies on mainland North America were not party to the sterling area because the above-mentioned silver shortage in England coincided with these colonies' formative years. As a result of equitable trade (and rather less equitable piracy), the Spanish milled dollar became the most common coin within the English colonies.

Gold standard

During the American war of independence and Napoleonic wars, Bank of England notes were legal tender and their value floated relative to gold. The Bank also issued silver tokens to alleviate the shortage of silver coins. In 1816, the gold standard was adopted officially, with the silver standard reduced to 66 shillings (66/-, £3 6s), rendering silver coins a "token" issue (i.e., not containing their value in precious metal). In 1817, the sovereign was introduced, valued at 20 shillings. Struck in 22‑carat gold, it contained 113 grains (7.3 g) of gold and replaced the guinea as the standard British gold coin without changing the gold standard. In 1825, the Irish pound, which had been pegged to sterling since 1801 at a rate of 13 Irish pounds = 12 pounds sterling, was replaced, at the same rate, with sterling.

By the 19th century the pound sterling was widely accepted outside Britain. The American Nellie Bly carried Bank of England notes on her 1889–1890 trip around the world in 72 days. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many other countries adopted the gold standard. As a consequence, conversion rates between different currencies could be determined simply from the respective gold standards. The pound sterling was equal to 4.85 United States dollars, 5.25 Canadian dollars, 12.10 Dutch guilders, 26.28 French francs (or equivalent currencies in the Latin Monetary Union), 20.43 German Marks or 24.02 Austro-Hungarian Krones. Discussions took place following the International Monetary Conference of 1867 in Paris concerning the possibility of the UK joining the Latin Monetary Union, and a Royal Commission on International Coinage examined the issues, resulting in a decision against joining monetary union.

The gold standard was suspended at the outbreak of the war in 1914, with Bank of England and Treasury notes becoming legal tender. Prior to World War I, the United Kingdom had one of the world's strongest economies, holding 40% of the world's overseas investments. However, after the end of the war, the country was indebted. Britain owed £850 million (£29.7 billion as of 2015), mostly to the United States, with interest costing the country some 40% of all government spending. In an attempt to resume stability, a variation on the gold standard was reintroduced in 1925, under which the currency was fixed to gold at its pre-war peg, although people were only able to exchange their currency for gold bullion, rather than for coins. This was abandoned on 21 September 1931, during the Great Depression, and sterling suffered an initial devaluation of some 25%.

Bretton Woods

In 1940, an agreement with the US pegged the pound to the U.S. dollar at a rate of £1 = $4.03. (Only the year before, it had been $4.86.) This rate was maintained through the Second World War and became part of the Bretton Woods system which governed post-war exchange rates. Under continuing economic pressure, and despite months of denials that it would do so, on 19 September 1949 the government devalued the pound by 30.5% to $2.80. The move prompted several other currencies to be devalued against the dollar.

The Operation Bernhard was the codename of a secret Nazi plan devised during the Second World War by the RSHA and the SS to destabilise the British economy via economic warfare by flooding the global economy and the British Empire with forged Bank of England £5, £10, £20, and £50 notes.

In 1961, 1964 and 1966, the pound came under renewed pressure since the exchange rate against the dollar was considered too high. In the summer of 1966, with the value of the pound falling in the currency markets, exchange controls were tightened by the Wilson government. Among the measures, tourists were banned from taking more than £50 out of the country in travellers' cheques and remittances, plus £15 in cash, until the restriction was lifted in 1979. The pound was devalued by 14.3% to $2.40 on 18 November 1967.

Decimalisation

Until decimalisation, amounts were stated in pounds, shillings, and pence, with various widely understood notations. The same amount was denoted by 32s 6d, 32/6, £1 12s 6d, £1/12/6. It was customary to specify some prices (for example professional fees and auction prices for works of art) in guineas (one guinea was 21 shillings) although guinea coins were no longer in use.

Formal parliamentary proposals to decimalise sterling were first made in 1824 when Sir John Wrottesley, MP for Staffordshire, asked in the British House of Commons whether consideration had been given to decimalising the currency. Wrottesley raised the issue in the House of Commons again in 1833, and it was again raised by John Bowring, MP for Kilmarnock Burghs, in 1847 whose efforts led to the introduction in 1848 of what was in effect the first decimal coin in the United Kingdom, the florin, valued at one-tenth of a pound sterling. However, full decimalisation was resisted, although the florin coin, re-designated as ten new pence, survived the transfer to a full decimal system in 1971, with examples surviving in British coinage until 1993.

J. B. Smith, MP for Stirling Burghs, raised the issue of full decimalisation again in Parliament in 1853, resulting in the Chancellor of the Exchequer, William Gladstone, announcing soon afterwards that "the great question of a decimal coinage" was "now under serious consideration". A full proposal for the decimalisation of sterling was then tabled in the House of Commons in June 1855, by William Brown, MP for Lancashire Southern, with the suggestion that the pound sterling be divided into one thousand parts, each called a "mil", or alternatively a farthing, as the pound was then equivalent to 960 farthings which could easily be rounded up to one thousand farthings in the new system. This did not result in the conversion of the pound sterling into a decimal system, but it was agreed to establish a Royal Commission to look into the issue. However, largely due to the hostility to decimalisation of two of the appointed commissioners, Lord Overstone (a banker) and John Hubbard (Governor of the Bank of England), decimalisation in Britain was effectively quashed for over a hundred years.

However the pound sterling was decimalised in various British colonial territories before the United Kingdom, and in several cases using William Brown's proposal that the pound be divided into 1000 parts, called mils. This included Hong Kong from 1863 to 1866; Cyprus from 1955 until 1960 (and continued on the island as the division of the Cypriot pound until 1983); and the Palestine Mandate from 1926 until 1948.

Towards the end of the Second World War, various attempts to decimalise the pound sterling in the United Kingdom were made, until in 1966 the British government decided to include in the Queen's Speech a plan to convert the pound into a decimal currency. As a result of this, on 15 February 1971, the UK decimalised the pound sterling, replacing the shilling and penny with a single subdivision, the new penny. For example, a price tag of £1 12s 6d became £1.62+12. The word "new" was omitted from coins minted after 1981.

Free-floating pound

With the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system, the pound floated from August 1971 onwards. At first it appreciated a little, rising to almost $2.65 in March 1972 from $2.42, the upper bound of the band in which it had been fixed. The sterling area effectively ended at this time when the majority of its members also chose to float freely against the pound and the dollar.

1976 sterling crisis

James Callaghan became Prime Minister in 1976. He was immediately told the economy was facing huge problems, according to documents released in 2006 by the National Archives. The effects of the 1973 oil crisis were still being felt, with inflation rising to over 27% in 1975. Financial markets were beginning to believe the pound was overvalued, and in April that year The Wall Street Journal advised the sale of sterling investments in the face of high taxes, in a story that ended with "goodbye, Great Britain. It was nice knowing you". At the time the UK government was running a budget deficit, and Labour's strategy emphasised high public spending. Callaghan was told there were three possible outcomes: a disastrous free fall in sterling, an internationally unacceptable siege economy, or a deal with key allies to prop up the pound while painful economic reforms were put in place. The US government feared the crisis could endanger NATO and the European Economic Community (EEC), and in light of this the US Treasury set out to force domestic policy changes. In November 1976 the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced the conditions for a loan, including deep cuts in public expenditure.

1979–89

The Conservative Party was elected to office in 1979, on a programme of fiscal austerity. Initially the pound rocketed, moving above US$2.40, as interest rates rose in response to the monetarist policy of targeting money supply. The high exchange rate was widely blamed for the deep recession of 1981. Sterling fell sharply after 1980; at its lowest, the pound stood at just $1.03 in March 1985, before rising to $1.70 in December 1989.

Following the Deutsche Mark

In 1988, Margaret Thatcher's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nigel Lawson, decided that the pound should "shadow" the West German Deutsche Mark, with the unintended result of a rapid rise in inflation as the economy boomed due to inappropriately low interest rates. (For ideological reasons, the Conservative Government declined to use alternative mechanisms to control the explosion of credit. For this reason, former Prime Minister Edward Heath referred to Lawson as a "one club golfer").

Following German re-unification in 1990, the reverse held true, as high borrowing costs to fund Eastern reconstruction, a need exacerbated by the political choice to make the Ostmark equivalent to the Deutsche Mark (DM), meant rates in other countries shadowing the DM, especially the UK, were far too high relative to domestic circumstances, leading to a housing decline and recession.

Following the European Currency Unit

On 8 October 1990 the Conservative government (Third Thatcher ministry) decided to join the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM), with the pound set at DM2.95. However, the country was forced to withdraw from the system on "Black Wednesday" (16 September 1992) as Britain's economic performance made the exchange rate unsustainable. Speculator George Soros made approximately US$1 billion from shorting the pound.

'Black Wednesday' saw interest rates jump from 10% to 15% in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the pound from falling below the ERM limits. The exchange rate fell to DM2.20. Those who had argued for a lower GBP/DM exchange rate were vindicated as the cheaper pound encouraged exports and contributed to the economic prosperity of the 1990s.

Following inflation targets

In 1997, the newly elected Labour government handed over day-to-day control of interest rates to the Bank of England (a policy that had originally been advocated by the Liberal Democrats). The Bank is now responsible for setting its base rate of interest so as to keep inflation in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) very close to 2%. Should CPI inflation be more than one percentage point above or below the target, the governor of the Bank of England is required to write an open letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer explaining the reasons for this and the measures which will be taken to bring this measure of inflation back in line with the 2% target. On 17 April 2007, CPI inflation was reported at 3.1% (inflation of the Retail Prices Index was 4.8%). Accordingly, and for the first time, the Governor had to write publicly to the government explaining why inflation was more than one percentage point higher than its target.

Euro

As a member of the European Union, the United Kingdom could have adopted the euro as its currency. However, the subject was always politically controversial, and the UK negotiated an opt-out on this issue. The 2016 referendum which started the process of United Kingdom withdrawal from the European Union makes adoption of the euro highly unlikely.

In 2007, Gordon Brown, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, ruled out membership for the foreseeable future, saying that the decision not to join had been right for Britain and for Europe.

The government of former Prime Minister Tony Blair had pledged to hold a public referendum to decide on membership should "five economic tests" be met, to ensure that adoption of the euro would be in the national interest. In addition to these internal (national) criteria, the UK would have to meet the European Union's economic convergence criteria (Maastricht criteria), before being allowed to adopt the euro. The Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government (2010–2015) ruled out joining the euro for that parliamentary term. Currently, the UK's annual government deficit, as a percentage of the GDP, is above the defined threshold.

The idea of replacing the pound with the euro was always controversial with the British public, partly because of the pound's identity as a symbol of British sovereignty and because it would, according to many critics, have led to suboptimal interest rates, harming the British economy. In December 2008, the results of a BBC poll of 1000 people suggested that 71% would vote no to the euro, 23% would vote yes to joining the European single currency, while 6% said they were unsure. The pound did not join the Second European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II) after the euro was created. Denmark and the UK have opt-outs from entry to the euro. Technically, every other EU nation must eventually sign up.

The Scottish Conservative Party claimed that there was an issue for Scotland in that the adoption of the euro would mean the end of nationally distinctive banknotes, as the euro banknotes do not have national designs. Before the No vote in the Scottish independence referendum in 2014, the Scottish National Party affirmed that the Euro would not be the national currency of an independent Scotland.

On 1 January 2008, with the Republic of Cyprus switching its currency from the Cypriot pound to the Euro, the British sovereign bases on Cyprus (Akrotiri and Dhekelia) followed suit making the Sovereign Base Areas the only territory under British sovereignty to officially use the euro.

Recent exchange rates

Most traded currencies by value
Currency distribution of global foreign exchange market turnover
Rank Currency ISO 4217 code
(symbol)
 % daily share
(April 2016)
1
United States dollar
USD ($)
87.6%
2
Euro
EUR (€)
31.4%
3
Japanese yen
JPY (¥)
21.6%
4
Pound sterling
GBP (£)
12.8%
5
Australian dollar
AUD ($)
6.9%
6
Canadian dollar
CAD ($)
5.1%
7
Swiss franc
CHF (Fr)
4.8%
8
Chinese yuan
CNY (¥)
4.0%
9
Swedish krona
SEK (kr)
2.2%
10
New Zealand dollar
NZD ($)
2.1%
11
Mexican peso
MXN ($)
1.9%
12
Singapore dollar
SGD ($)
1.8%
13
Hong Kong dollar
HKD ($)
1.7%
14
Norwegian krone
NOK (kr)
1.7%
15
South Korean won
KRW (₩)
1.7%
16
Turkish lira
TRY (₺)
1.4%
17
Russian ruble
RUB (₽)
1.1%
18
Indian rupee
INR (₹)
1.1%
19
Brazilian real
BRL (R$)
1.0%
20
South African rand
ZAR (R)
1.0%
Other 7.1%
Total
Most traded currencies by value
Currency distribution of global foreign exchange market turnover
Rank Currency ISO 4217
code
Symbol or
abbreviation
Proportion of
daily volume,
April 2019
Proportion of
daily volume,
April 2022
1
U.S. dollar
USD
US$
88.3% 88.5%
2
Euro
EUR
32.3% 30.5%
3
Japanese yen
JPY
¥ / 円
16.8% 16.7%
4
Sterling
GBP
£
12.8% 12.9%
5
Renminbi
CNY
¥ / 元
4.3% 7.0%
6
Australian dollar
AUD
A$
6.8% 6.4%
7
Canadian dollar
CAD
C$
5.0% 6.2%
8
Swiss franc
CHF
CHF
5.0% 5.2%
9
Hong Kong dollar
HKD
HK$
3.5% 2.6%
10
Singapore dollar
SGD
S$
1.8% 2.4%
11
Swedish krona
SEK
kr
2.0% 2.2%
12
South Korean won
KRW
₩ / 원
2.0% 1.9%
13
Norwegian krone
NOK
kr
1.8% 1.7%
14
New Zealand dollar
NZD
NZ$
2.1% 1.7%
15
Indian rupee
INR
1.7% 1.6%
16
Mexican peso
MXN
$
1.7% 1.5%
17
New Taiwan dollar
TWD
NT$
0.9% 1.1%
18
South African rand
ZAR
R
1.1% 1.0%
19
Brazilian real
BRL
R$
1.1% 0.9%
20
Danish krone
DKK
kr
0.6% 0.7%
21
Polish złoty
PLN
0.6% 0.7%
22
Thai baht
THB
฿
0.5% 0.4%
23
Israeli new shekel
ILS
0.3% 0.4%
24
Indonesian rupiah
IDR
Rp
0.4% 0.4%
25
Czech koruna
CZK
0.4% 0.4%
26
UAE dirham
AED
د.إ
0.2% 0.4%
27
Turkish lira
TRY
1.1% 0.4%
28
Hungarian forint
HUF
Ft
0.4% 0.3%
29
Chilean peso
CLP
CLP$
0.3% 0.3%
30
Saudi riyal
SAR
0.2% 0.2%
31
Philippine peso
PHP
0.3% 0.2%
32
Malaysian ringgit
MYR
RM
0.1% 0.2%
33
Colombian peso
COP
COL$
0.2% 0.2%
34
Russian ruble
RUB
1.1% 0.2%
35
Romanian leu
RON
L
0.1% 0.1%
Other 2.2% 2.5%
Total 200.0% 200.0%
|| style="text-align:right;" | 200.0%

The pound and the euro fluctuate in value against one another, although there may be correlation between movements in their respective exchange rates with other currencies such as the US dollar. Inflation concerns in the UK led the Bank of England to raise interest rates in late 2006 and 2007. This caused the pound to appreciate against other major currencies and, with the US dollar depreciating at the same time, the pound hit a 15-year high against the US dollar on 18 April 2007, reaching US$2 the day before, for the first time since 1992. The pound and many other currencies continued to appreciate against the dollar; sterling hit a 26-year high of US$2.1161 on 7 November 2007 as the dollar fell worldwide. From mid-2003 to mid-2007, the pound/euro rate remained range-bound (within ± 5%) of €1.45.

Following the global financial crisis in late 2008, the pound depreciated sharply, reaching £1 per $1.38 (US) on 23 January 2009 and falling below €1.25 against the euro in April 2008. A further decline occurred during the remainder of 2008, most dramatically on 29 December when its euro rate hit an all-time low at €1.0219, while its US dollar rate depreciated. The pound appreciated in early 2009 reaching a peak against the euro in mid-July of €1.17. The following months the pound remained broadly steady against the euro, with the pound's current (27 May 2011) value at €1.15 and US$1.65.

On 5 March 2009, the Bank of England announced that it would pump £75 billion of new capital into the British economy, through a process known as quantitative easing. This was the first time in the United Kingdom's history that this measure had been used, although the Bank's Governor Mervyn King suggested it was not an experiment.

The process saw the Bank of England creating new money for itself, which it then used to purchase assets such as government bonds, secured commercial paper, or corporate bonds. The initial amount stated to be created through this method was £75 billion, although Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling had given permission for up to £150 billion to be created if necessary. It was expected that the process would occur over a period of three months with results only likely in the long term. By 5 November 2009, some £175 billion had been injected using quantitative easing and the effectiveness of the process remained less successful in the long term. In July 2012, the final increase in the asset purchases finance meant QE had peaked at £375 billion, then holding solely UK Government bonds, representing one third of the UK national debt.

The result of the 2016 UK referendum on EU membership caused a major decline in the pound against other world currencies as the future of international trade relationships and domestic political leadership became unclear. The referendum result weakened sterling against euro overnight by 5%. The night before the vote £1 was trading for €1.30; on the day following the referendum, when the result was clear, £1 was trading at €1.23. By October 2016, the exchange rate was €1.12 to the pound, a fall of 14% since the referendum. Against the US dollar, meanwhile, the pound fell from $1.466 to $1.3694 when the referendum result was first revealed, and down to $1.2232 by October 2016, a fall of 16%.

Annual inflation rate

The Bank of England had stated (2009) that the decision had been taken to prevent the rate of inflation falling below the 2% target rate. Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, also had suggested there were no other monetary options left as interest rates had already been cut to their lowest level ever (0.5%) and it was unlikely that they would be cut further.

The inflation rate per annum rose in following years, reaching 5.2% (based on Consumer Price Index) in September 2011, then decreased to around 2.5% in the following year.

Coins

Pre-decimal coins

The silver penny (plural: pence; abbreviation: d) was the principal and often the only coin in circulation from the 8th century until the 13th century. Although some fractions of the penny were struck (see farthing and halfpenny), it was more common to find pennies cut into halves and quarters to provide smaller change. Very few gold coins were struck, with the gold penny (worth 20 silver pence) a rare example. However, in 1279, the groat, worth 4d, was introduced, with the half groat following in 1344. 1344 also saw the establishment of a gold coinage with the introduction (after the failed gold florin) of the noble worth six shillings and eight pence (6/8) (i.e. 3 nobles to the pound), together with the half and quarter noble. Reforms in 1464 saw a reduction in value of the coinage in both silver and gold, with the noble renamed the ryal and worth 10/- (i.e. 2 to the pound) and the angel introduced at the noble's old value of 6/8.

The reign of Henry VII saw the introduction of two important coins: the shilling (abbr.: s; known as the testoon) in 1487 and the pound (known as the sovereign, abbr.: £ or L) in 1489. In 1526, several new denominations of gold coins were added, including the crown and half crown worth five shillings (5/-), and two shillings and six pence (2/6, two and six) respectively. Henry VIII's reign (1509–1547) saw a high level of debasement which continued into the reign of Edward VI (1547–1553). This debasement was halted in 1552, and a new silver coinage was introduced, including coins for 1d, 2d, 3d, 4d and 6d, 1/-, 2/6 and 5/-. In the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603), silver 34d and 1+12d coins were added, but these denominations did not last. Gold coins included the half-crown, crown, angel, half-sovereign and sovereign. Elizabeth's reign also saw the introduction of the horse-drawn screw press to produce the first "milled" coins.

Following the succession of the Scottish King James VI to the English throne, a new gold coinage was introduced, including the spur ryal (15/-), the unite (20/-) and the rose ryal (30/-). The laurel, worth 20/-, followed in 1619. The first base metal coins were also introduced: tin and copper farthings. Copper halfpenny coins followed in the reign of Charles I. During the English Civil War, a number of siege coinages were produced, often in unusual denominations.

Following the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, the coinage was reformed, with the ending of production of hammered coins in 1662. The guinea was introduced in 1663, soon followed by the 12, 2 and 5 guinea coins. The silver coinage consisted of denominations of 1d, 2d, 3d, 4d and 6d, 1/-, 2/6 and 5/-. Due to the widespread export of silver in the 18th century, the production of silver coins gradually came to a halt, with the half crown and crown not issued after the 1750s, the 6d and 1/- stopping production in the 1780s. In response, copper 1d and 2d coins and a gold 13 guinea (7/-) were introduced in 1797. The copper penny was the only one of these coins to survive long.

To alleviate the shortage of silver coins, between 1797 and 1804, the Bank of England counterstamped Spanish dollars (8 reales) and other Spanish and Spanish colonial coins for circulation. A small counterstamp of the King's head was used. Until 1800, these circulated at a rate of 4/9 for 8 reales. After 1800, a rate of 5/- for 8 reales was used. The Bank then issued silver tokens for 5/- (struck over Spanish dollars) in 1804, followed by tokens for 1/6 and 3/- between 1811 and 1816.

In 1816, a new silver coinage was introduced in denominations of 6d, 1/-, 2/6 (half-crown) and 5/- (crown). The crown was only issued intermittently until 1900. It was followed by a new gold coinage in 1817 consisting of 10/- and £1 coins, known as the half sovereign and sovereign. The silver 4d coin was reintroduced in 1836, followed by the 3d in 1838, with the 4d coin issued only for colonial use after 1855. In 1848, the 2/- florin was introduced, followed by the short-lived double florin in 1887. In 1860, copper was replaced by bronze in the farthing (quarter penny, 14d), halfpenny and penny.

During the First World War, production of the half sovereign and sovereign was suspended, and although the gold standard was later restored, the coins saw little circulation thereafter. In 1920, the silver standard, maintained at .925 since 1552, was reduced to .500. In 1937, a nickel-brass 3d coin was introduced; the last silver 3d coins were issued seven years later. In 1947, the remaining silver coins were replaced with cupro-nickel, with the exception of Maundy coinage which was then restored to .925. Inflation caused the farthing to cease production in 1956 and be demonetised in 1960. In the run-up to decimalisation, the halfpenny and half-crown were demonetised in 1969.

Decimal coins

£1 coin (Welsh design, 2000)
1pound2000front.jpgUk1pnd2000.jpg
Elizabeth II Welsh dragon

British coinage timeline:

  • 1968: The first decimal coins were introduced. These were cupro-nickel 5p and 10p coins which were equivalent to, and circulated alongside, the one shilling coin and the two shilling or florin coin respectively.
  • 1969: The curved equilateral heptagonal cupro-nickel 50p coin replaced the 10/- note.
  • 1971: The decimal coinage was completed when decimalisation came into effect in 1971 with the introduction of the bronze 12p, 1p and 2p coins and the withdrawal of the 1d and 3d coins.
  • 1980: Withdrawal of 6d coins, which had circulated at a value of 2+12p.
  • 1982: The word "new" was dropped from the coinage and a 20p coin was introduced.
  • 1983: A £1 coin was introduced.
  • 1983: The 12p coin was last produced.
  • 1984: The 12p coin was demonetised.
  • 1990: The crown, worth 25p, was re-tariffed for future issues as a commemorative coin at £5.
  • 1990s: The 5p, 10p and 50p coins became smaller.
  • 1991: Pre-decimal 1/- coins, which had continued to circulate with a value of 5p, were demonetised in 1991 after the 5p coin became smaller. At the same time larger first generation decimal 5p coins were demonetised.
  • 1992: Bronze was replaced with copper-plated steel.
  • 1993: Pre-decimal 2/- coins, or florin, a legacy of the 1848 attempt at decimalisation were demonetised. At the same time larger first generation decimal 10p coins were demonetised.
  • 1998: The bi-metallic £2 coin was introduced.
  • 2007: By now the value of copper in the pre-1992 1p and 2p coins (which are 97% copper) exceeded those coins' face value to such an extent that melting down the coins by entrepreneurs was becoming worthwhile (with a premium of up to 11%, with smelting costs reducing this to around 4%)—although this is illegal, and the market value of copper has subsequently fallen dramatically from these earlier peaks.
  • 2012: The 5p and 10p coins were changed from cupro-nickel to nickel-plated steel.
  • 2014: It was announced that in 2017 the pound coin will change to a more secure twelve-sided coin to discourage forgery.

At present, the oldest circulating coins in the UK are the 1p and 2p copper coins introduced in 1971. No other coins from before 1980 are in circulation. Before decimalisation, a handful of change might have contained coins 100 or more years old, bearing any of five monarchs' heads.

In April 2008, an extensive redesign of the coinage was unveiled. The new designs were issued gradually into circulation, starting in mid-2008. The new reverses of the 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p and 50p coins feature parts of the Royal Shield, and the new pound coin depicts the whole shield. The coins have the same sizes, shapes and weights as those with the old designs, which will continue to circulate.

Monetary policy

As the central bank of the United Kingdom which has been delegated authority by the government, the Bank of England sets the monetary policy for the British pound by controlling the amount of money in circulation. It has a monopoly on issuance of banknotes in England and Wales, and regulates the amount of banknotes issued by seven authorized banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland. HM Treasury has reserve powers to give orders to the committee "if they are required in the public interest and by extreme economic circumstances" but such orders must be endorsed by Parliament within 28 days.

Unlike banknotes which have separate issuers in Scotland and Northern Ireland, all UK coins are issued by the Royal Mint, which is an independent enterprise (wholly owned by the Treasury) which also mints coins for other countries.

In Britain's Crown Dependencies, the Manx pound, Jersey pound, and Guernsey pound are unregulated by the Bank of England and are issued independently. However, they are maintained at a fixed exchange rate by their respective governments, and Bank of England notes have been made legal tender on the islands, forming a sort of one-way de facto currency union. These currencies do not have ISO 4217 codes so "GBP" is usually used to represent all of them; informal codes are used where the difference is important.

British Overseas Territories are responsible for the monetary policy of their own currencies (where they exist), and have their own ISO 4217 codes. The Falkland Islands pound, Gibraltar pound, and Saint Helena pound are set at a fixed 1:1 exchange rate with the British pound by local governments.

Value

In 2006, the House of Commons Library published a research paper which included an index of prices in pounds for each year between 1750 and 2005, where 1974 was indexed at 100.

Regarding the period 1750–1914 the document states: "Although there was considerable year on year fluctuation in price levels prior to 1914 (reflecting the quality of the harvest, wars, etc.) there was not the long-term steady increase in prices associated with the period since 1945". It goes on to say that "Since 1945 prices have risen in every year with an aggregate rise of over 27 times".

The value of the index in 1751 was 5.1, increasing to a peak of 16.3 in 1813 before declining very soon after the end of the Napoleonic Wars to around 10.0 and remaining in the range 8.5–10.0 at the end of the nineteenth century. The index was 9.8 in 1914 and peaked at 25.3 in 1920, before declining to 15.8 in 1933 and 1934—prices were only about three times as high as they had been 180 years earlier.

Inflation had a dramatic effect during and after World War II—the index was 20.2 in 1940, 33.0 in 1950, 49.1 in 1960, 73.1 in 1970, 263.7 in 1980, 497.5 in 1990, 671.8 in 2000 and 757.3 in 2005.

The following table shows the equivalent amount of goods and services that, in a particular year, could be purchased with £1.

The table shows that from 1971 to 2015 the British pound lost about 92% of its buying power.

Buying power of one British pound compared to 1971 GBP
 Year  Equivalent  buying power  Year  Equivalent  buying power  Year  Equivalent  buying power  Year  Equivalent  buying power  Year  Equivalent  buying power
1971  £1.00 1981  £0.271 1991  £0.152 2001  £0.117 2011  £0.0900
1972  £0.935 1982  £0.250 1992  £0.146 2002  £0.115 2012  £0.0850
1973  £0.855 1983  £0.239 1993  £0.144 2003  £0.112 2013  £0.0826
1974  £0.735 1984  £0.227 1994  £0.141 2004  £0.109 2014  £0.0800
1975  £0.592 1985  £0.214 1995  £0.136 2005  £0.106 2015  £0.0780
1976  £0.510 1986  £0.207 1996  £0.133 2006  £0.102
1977  £0.439 1987  £0.199 1997  £0.123 2007  £0.0980
1978  £0.407 1988  £0.190 1998  £0.125 2008  £0.0943
1979  £0.358 1989  £0.176 1999  £0.123 2009  £0.0952
1980  £0.303 1990  £0.161 2000  £0.119 2010  £0.0910

The smallest coin in 1971 was the 12p, worth about 6.4p in 2015 prices.

Exchange rate

The pound is freely bought and sold on the foreign exchange markets around the world, and its value relative to other currencies therefore fluctuates.

As of 7 October  2016 (2016 -10-07), £1 was worth US$1.24, 1.11, ¥128, CHF 1.22, A$1.64, C$1.65 or INR 82.83.

Current GBP exchange rates
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Reserve

Sterling is used as a reserve currency around the world and is currently ranked 3rd in value held as reserves. The percental composition of currencies of official foreign exchange reserves since 1995.

     US dollar      Euro      German mark      French franc
     Pound sterling      Japanese yen      Other


Images for kids

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Libra esterlina para niños

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