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  • Market wisdom over the course of the Brexit campaign has dictated that the pound will tumble in the event of a leave vote.

  • The famed speculator George Soros this week warned that a vote to leave would cause the pound to fall to parity against the European single currency

  • and the UK would end up ironically "joining" the euro after all.

  • By the same logic, a vote to remain in the EU will shore up the value of Sterling and may even prompt a relief rally for the British currency.

  • There is however, an alternative view that is actually largely been ignored by markets during the sound and the fury of the campaign.

  • It says that the Brexit result will not be the main driver of Sterling prices

  • because a pound is poised to take a significant tumble against the dollar and the euro regardless of the outcome of the vote.

  • The United Kingdom finds itself in the unenviable position of being the only G4 currency with a larger current account deficit now than in the years preceding the Financial Crisis.

  • Russell Clark of Horseman Capital notes that while the relative valuations of currencies are driven by differences in current and expected interest rates,

  • these rates should ultimately be driven by fundamentals such as current accounts and fiscal deficits.

  • On both these measures, the UK has sharply underperformed its G4 rivals over recent years,

  • yet the value of the pound has yet to adjust.

  • Compared with the eurozone, United States, and Japan, the UK has prepared by far the largest current account deficit as percentage of Gross Domestic Product since the middle of 2012.

  • At the same time, the UK's fiscal deficit has significantly worsened relative to eurozone and the US.

  • Mr. Clark believes that a sharp improvement of the euro zone's fiscal and current account positions versus the UK

  • means that the pound is likely to suffer an even sharper devaluation against the single currency than in the 2008 crisis.

  • Sterling versus the euro peaked at 1.50 euro in 2007, and then lost 30% of its value down to its 2009 trough.

  • So far, since reaching its most recent peak of 1.41 euro, the pound is only down by a modest 8%.

  • Based on these facts, parity against the single currency looks an entirely plausible outcome for the pound over the next two years.

Market wisdom over the course of the Brexit campaign has dictated that the pound will tumble in the event of a leave vote.

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