The pound has fallen in value since the Brexit vote

“So far the pound has tanked by 15%... We've got the lowest growth in the EU.”

Terry Christian, 8 February 2018

The UK had the third-slowest GDP growth rate in the EU in July to September 2017, compared to the same period in 2016. The Pound has fallen by 12% against the Euro and 5% against the US Dollar since just before the EU referendum in 2016.

The UK’s economic growth is not quite the slowest in Europe. The UK’s gross domestic product (GDP) has grown by 1.5%, comparing July-September 2017 to the same period the year before. That’s slower than every EU country except Denmark and Greece (although there’s no data yet for Ireland and Luxembourg), and the average rate among EU members is 2.6%.

The UK’s growth was roughly the joint lowest in Europe earlier last year, comparing economies’ growth up to June 2017.

How much the Pound has fallen by depends on which currency you’re comparing it to. The pound has fallen 12% against the Euro compared to what it was just before the EU referendum and about 5% against the US Dollar, based on monthly averages.

But, the IMF had said back in February 2016 that the pound was “moderately overvalued in 2015” by 5 to 15 percent. Other groups including the Bank of England and the IMF agreed that the pound was overvalued. This means the exchange rate could have been artificially high before the EU referendum .

A fall in the pound makes things bought from abroad more expensive and makes it cheaper for people abroad to buy things from the UK, whether that’s UK companies, UK footballers, or UK exports.