The pound remains strong against the euro and but has weakened slightly against the dollar after a mixed bag of economic data releases this morning. Balance of trade figures show that in January, UK exports to the EU fell by 40.7% and imports fell by 28.8%. It has also been revealed that the UK economy shrank by 2.9% in January – a smaller decline than markets had projected.
Sterling has been one of the top currency performers of 2021 – largely due to the UK’s successful vaccine rollout and the roadmap out of lockdown – and is projected to strengthen further against the euro, to levels not seen since April 2018.
It has been announced that checks on EU goods, such as meat and milk, entering the UK will be delayed to October. It is hoped that this will help businesses recovering from the pandemic.
