- Pound (GBP) is rising for a seventh day
- IMF advises BoE to raise rates further and keep them high
- Euro (EUR) falls as IMF downwardly revises growth
- German inflation is expected to cool
The Pound Euro (GBP/EUR) exchange rate is rising for a seventh straight day. The pair rose +0.05% in the previous session, settling on Tuesday at €1.1582 and trading in a range between €1.1551 – €1.1591. At 07:35 UTC, GBP/EUR trades +0.03% at €1.1588.
The pound pushed higher in the previous session as investors digested the latest revisions to global growth from the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
The IMF confirmed that it expects the UK to contract 0.3% in 2023 putting it slightly ahead of Germany, which is also expected to contract 0.5%. However, UK growth for 2024 was downwardly revised from 1% to 0.6%, which would make it the slowest-growing G7 country.
The IMF also called on the Bank of England to raise interest rates further to 5.5% before keeping rates elevated at this level across next year in order to tame inflation.
The comments from the IMF are in line with the Bank of England’s Catherine Mann, who said that the central bank must continue to take an aggressive approach to fighting inflation.
There is no high-impacting UK economic data due to be released today. Attention will be on Thursday’s GDP release, which is expected to show that the economy stalled in August after contracting 0.5% in July.
The euro fell yesterday after the IMF downwardly revised growth forecasts for the region, saying it now expects the economy to grow 0.7% this year, down from 0.9% previously.
The German economy is expected to experience a deeper recession than initially forecast amid high inflation and a slump in manufacturing.
Sticking with Germany German inflation data is due today and is to expected to show that inflation cooled to 4.5%, down from 6.1%, year on year, and is expected to rise 0.3% on a monthly basis.
The data comes as ECB is not expected to raise interest rates again. Earlier in the week, ECB policymaker Francois Villeroy said he doesn’t think rates need to rise further.
