Sterling fell against its main rivals on Wednesday after comments by a new member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee kept the British currency on track for its biggest six-month drop against the US dollar since 2016, the year the Brexit referendum took place.
Swati Dhingra, who is due to join the Bank of England in August, said the bank should move very slowly to tighten monetary policy because there are signs that an economic slowdown is much more imminent than previously thought.
And sterling is one of the worst performing major currencies this year, with a fall of more than 10 percent against the dollar due to fears of a sharp economic slowdown. At 1820 GMT, sterling was trading down 0.46 percent at $1.2124, its lowest level since June 16, when the Bank of England raised interest rates by 25 basis points to 1.25 percent, although it warned that Britain’s economy would contract in the second quarter.