Ask Citywire: why is the pound still weak against the euro?

Does this mean that the BofE has had a new political mandate. I thought they were supposed to control inflation, which they are not doing.

Why is the pound still weak against the Euro? Because our economy's f*$ked.

Next question.....

The Bank of England has obviously been given the nod to try to help create conditions that are friendly to the "rebalancing" of the economy. It also gives the government wriggle room when the manure hits the primitive air circulation system as they'll claim "not our fault Guv".

Why is this happening most of the EURO countries are in a far worse financial state than the UK, the UK is tackling its monetary problems while other EU members like to indicate they are taking action when in fact they are just sitting on their hands and waiting for better times to arrive so they do not have to take the necessary action in fear of upsetting their work force..

Who gave Mervyn King a madate to weaken the pound as I am not aware of any government directive for him to do so.

Who in the government has given the Bank Of England the "NOD" I am not aware of any parlimentary bill or instruction from the treasury that has tipped them the wink to allowi Mervyn King to take such action, is the chancellor aware of this action and if so why is it not public knowledge ?.

It is not the weak pound so much as the overstrong,, over-inflated Euro.

Try asking the small Frebch businessman what he thinks. Exporting is just that more difficult for him.

Robin Goddard

Les Mias

Charente. France.

A weak currency in this case sterling, is not helpful and can do incredible harm to both the country and our exports in the short/long term. Just think about it, since when has a weakened currency been best for well, any country?

Inflation in the 1st Q of 2011 WILL become an issue, with which the BoE will have to deal.

Hasn't a weak currency help China to export it's goods?

It doesn't need a rocket scientist.

It's the law of supply and demand.

We are printing pounds. The ECB is not indulging in monetary easing.

No more no less. No conspiracy. It's the market at work.

Moreover if the likes of RBS lose squillions in the US, they have to be bailed out by selling £ and buying $.

we gonna inflate our way out of this

Whenever the pound starts rising against the dollar and euro mervyn king or some other official will make some speech or comment to weaken sterling , but the so do the yanks.

Surely the pound and the dollar are weak because these countries still have huge fiscal debts which are still emerging after years of encouraged house price inflation on an unsuspecting public.

Western Europe excluding Britain doesn't have this type of problem - its main source of debt are strategic loans to emerging partners in pursuit of a Greater Europe. Alas some partners will default and others will take longer to repay.

In the UK, Mervin would perhaps like to increase interest rates to head of inflation but in so doing he could rack up more debt as another swathe of home owners default.

It seems the market has simply decided that the UK's problems are more severe than Europes.

A Treasury obsession with keeping the pound high persistently abraded British manufacturing industry in the 1970s and 1980s. Mr Shaw is right to point to the success of China in holding its currency low and enjoying the results on its terms of trade. The more of this the better. If the media could move away from the misleading metaphor which makes an overvalued currency "strong" and an undervalued one "weak", that would help.