The pound stays

London

Britain will not adopt the euro as its currency—at least not this year, the nation’s top treasury official said this week. Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown said that while he supported joining the eurozone someday, now—with inflation threatening—is not the time. A solid majority of Brits want to keep the pound. That’s partly because a Britain that used the euro would not be able to set its own monetary policy; instead, the European Central Bank in Frankfurt would determine interest rates. British opponents of the euro also point to the experience of the 12 countries that gave up their national currencies to use the euro. All have economies that have fared worse than Britain’s in the past few years.

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