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Investors Chronicle:
PATRIOT GAMES; James Norrington examines how investors might position their portfolios in an era of economic nationalism

4 October 2019

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) releases its Pink and Blue Books on the balance of payments at the end of October (interestingly the date is later than usual and coincides with the current Brexit departure date), but there are fears that sterling's lower value against major currencies since the 2016 referendum has exacerbated the current account deficit. London School of Economics trade expert Dr Swati Dhingra notes many UK sectors with highly integrated global supply chains have seen import costs rise thanks to sterling depreciation. Furthermore, she observes "lower wage growth and lower worker training in these sectors". Longer term, this sounds like a recipe for lower productivity, which would be bad for Britain's economic output, exports and the balance of payments.

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