BBC documentary on the one-day 1992 pound devaluation.
Black Wednesday occurred in the United Kingdom on 16 September 1992, when John Major's Conservative government was forced to withdraw the pound sterling from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) after it was unable to keep the pound above its agreed lower limit in the ERM.
In 1997, the UK Treasury estimated the cost of Black Wednesday at £3.4 billion. In 2005, documents released under the Freedom of Information Act indicated that the actual cost may have been slightly less, £3.3 billion. At that time, the United Kingdom was holding the Presidency of the European Communities.
The trading losses in August and September were estimated at £800 million, but the main loss to taxpayers arose because devaluation could have made them a profit. The papers show that if the government had maintained $24 billion foreign currency reserves and the pound had fallen by the same amount, the UK would have made a £2.4 billion profit on the pound sterling's devaluation. (BBC, 1997)
Black Wednesday occurred in the United Kingdom on 16 September 1992, when John Major's Conservative government was forced to withdraw the pound sterling from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) after it was unable to keep the pound above its agreed lower limit in the ERM.
In 1997, the UK Treasury estimated the cost of Black Wednesday at £3.4 billion. In 2005, documents released under the Freedom of Information Act indicated that the actual cost may have been slightly less, £3.3 billion. At that time, the United Kingdom was holding the Presidency of the European Communities.
The trading losses in August and September were estimated at £800 million, but the main loss to taxpayers arose because devaluation could have made them a profit. The papers show that if the government had maintained $24 billion foreign currency reserves and the pound had fallen by the same amount, the UK would have made a £2.4 billion profit on the pound sterling's devaluation. (BBC, 1997)
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