British Pound

The official name is the pound sterling (English pound sterling), an international symbol of £, is the official monetary unit in Great Britain. 1 pound is divided into 100 pence. Coins are in denominations: 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, 1 £, 2 £; notes: 5 £, 10 £, 20 £, 50 £ (rare, the English look suspicious when somebody pays the banknote .)

British Pound is often denoted by the symbol £ (rare L). The symbol is written in old-style L capitalized, crossed horizontally to emphasize that this is a shortcut. The abbreviation comes from the Latin word libra, meaning both weight and body weight - a pound. For this reason, the currency name is often translated into foreign languages and especially in the Romance languages can cause confusion for example, in Spanish and Portuguese libra, lira Romanian, French Livre.

In contrast to the monetary unit per unit of weight added to the word sterling, which in the case of silver can be translated to English as "high test". Originally called sterling silver coin weighing 1.555 grams jednopensowš representing 1 / 240 pound Trojan (pharmacy). With time, the loss of purchasing power of currency penny has been superseded in general use by the pound, this name began to mean the pound.

British Pound is divided into 100 pence, whose symbol is the "p"and so is often referred to in common parlance in the English language.

Until February 15, 1971 the pound was divided into 240 pence (abbreviated saved "d" from the word denarius) or for 20 shillings ("l" or "s" from the solid). Pens after going to the decimal system in 1971 because of the difference in value was originally called new penny.

Sterling was introduced into circulation by the English King Henry II in 1158 and was redeemable for silver. In 1816, the convertibility of the pound changed from silver to gold and kept it until 1914. At that time, the pound held steady at about 4.9 USD per 1 £. In 1926 he returned to the convertibility into gold, but at that time in circulation were not already used gold coins and banknotes that could be exchanged for gold bars. System sztabowo currency and gold was finally abandoned on Sept. 21, 1931 during the Great Depression. After the withdrawal from the gold standard pound was devalued by 20%. Pound was fully convertible in 1946, which was a condition for granting loans of USD 3.75 billion by the U.S.. After the withdrawal of a pound of gold znpowišzania attempted to stabilize the exchange rate through the connection of the pound to other currencies since the U.S. dollar. But the attempts were unsuccessful resulting in a 30% devaluation in 1949.

In the mid-60s occurred subsequent downward pressure on the currency value. In 1966, in the face of a falling exchange rate the British government has introduced strict foreign exchange restrictions. One of them was a ban on exports by tourists from the country for more than 50 pounds (abolished in 1970). In the meantime, in November 1967 the pound was devalued by 14.3% to 2.41 dollar. In 1976 there was another crisis. rate Pound fell against the dollar to a level of 1.57, and the United Kingdom was forced to borrow at the IMF, 2.3 billion pounds. The lowest rate historyczyny pound reached in February 1985 when the pound could be obtained only 1.05 dollar.

In 1988, Margaret Thatcher's government decided to tie the pound to a German brand, and in 1990 incorporated it into the ERM to the course to a German brand of around 2.90 DEM / GBP. Already in 1992 the pound was forced out of the system after the so-called. Wednesday black (16 September) when a group of speculators, with George Soros at the head moved speculative attack on the pound, which brought Soros profits over a billion dollars a pound drop in the value of 25% within a few days.

Great Britain has negotiated a clause allowing to remain outside the euro area. The decision on whether to adopt the common currency to be taken in the future. For this reason, as yet not introduced the UK pound in ERM II.