Pound’s plunge ought to be envy of the world

Albert Edwards, Societe Generale’s notoriously-bearish strategist, has a rare bit of positive news about the pound. Writing in his weekly Global Strategy note, Edwards –– who is renowned for making big, bearish calls on the state of the world –– argues that the recent crash in the pound, which has seen Britain’s currency plumb new lows on an almost daily basis in recent weeks, will benefit the UK by stimulating inflation, something that virtually every single developed nation is struggling to achieve right now.

Earlier on Friday, Bank of England governor Mark Carney said the bank is prepared to tolerate inflation passing above its 2% target in the coming few years to prevent higher unemployment. “Our judgement in the summer was that we could have seen another 400,000-500,000 people unemployed over the course of the next few years. So we’re willing to tolerate a bit of overshoot in inflation.”