U.K. Exporters in `Sweet Spot' That May Not Last, Broadbent Says
- Negatives of pound fall ‘marginally outweigh’ positives
- Bank of England deputy governor speaks at event in London
The Ludwigshafen Express container vessel, operated by Hapag-Lloyd AG, right, sits alongside the Brilliance container vessel, operated by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. (MOL), at the container terminal operated by DP World Ltd., at the Port of Southampton, in Southampton, U.K., on Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016. Export optimism in the U.K. has risen to the highest in two-and-a-half years thanks to the pound's depreciation since the Brexit vote, according to the Confederation of British Industry.
Photographer: Simon Dawson/BloombergBritish exporters are in a post-referendum and pre-Brexit “sweet spot,” according to Bank of England Deputy Governor Ben Broadbent -- but it may not last.
While sterling has fallen sharply since the vote to leave the European Union, benefiting U.K. exporters, the country’s trading rules “are for the time being unchanged,” Broadbent said in a speech at Imperial College in London on Thursday. “The result is that the costs and ease of exports are unchanged but the returns to it significantly higher.