You might have hoped that a more than 20% fall in the value of the pound during the financial crisis would have been enough to help us start to re-balance the UK economy - boosting the competitiveness of UK plc, and so reducing the gap between our exports and our imports.
Egypt faces the threat of a currency crisis after the Egyptian pound hit its lowest level in eight years.
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Although the service sector (the bulk of the economy) remains fairly strong, manufacturers, especially those exposed to international markets, have been moaning for months about the combined effects of the Asian crisis and the strong pound.
That financial crisis, in the course of which the Italian lira was ejected from Europe's pre-euro exchange-rate system (along with Britain's pound sterling) coincided with a huge political crisis, as corruption investigations brought crashing down the parties that had dominated Italian politics for the past 40 years.
It would be worrying for the UK's economic future if the crisis had put upward pressure on the pound.
Government will match pound-for-pound voluntary donations made by people to help victims of the crisis.
As it forces euro-zone countries to bind closer, the crisis convinces Britons of the wisdom of keeping the pound.
The multi-million pound holiday home business has been hit by Spain's recent economic crisis.
Similarly, the pound has tumbled in recent weeks against the euro and dollar as the euro zone's debt crisis has subsided, laying bare the U.K. economy's stubborn problems and weakening sterling's appeal as a haven alternative to the euro.
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However, the British pound has been something of a safe haven lately for European investors, getting a boost from fears that the Greek crisis will spread through the 16-nation euro zone.
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