ooops, the pound devalues again...

[TinTrump]

I don't think so.

Eg. Eurofighter is priced in Euros. Most tanks and guns are made abroad.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/n...e-exports.html

Doubt situation has changed a great deal since then.

[Sysman]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/n...e-exports.html

Doubt situation has changed a great deal since then.

News that Britain leads the world in defence exports comes at a sensitive time. The role of defence export promotion has moved from the Ministry of Defence to the Department for Business and Enterprise, where Secretary of State John Hutton oversees the new DSO.

Britain's arms industry opposed the transfer, fearing that it would harm defence exports. Yesterday, analyst Howard Wheeldon, at BGC Partners, said the latest export figures were a "slap in the face for the Brown government.... France, the US, Australia, let alone Russia, are probably all having a good laugh at how Britain has all but wrecked the defence export goose that for year upon year has laid golden eggs."

Ooooooops.

[Tarquin Farquhar]

We're trying to export our way out of trouble.
Problem is no one told the gubberment that there is no manufacturing any more.

CIA World Factbook

World ranking:

COUNTRY COMPARISON :: EXPORTS

RANK-COUNTRY--------EXPORTS-------------DATE OF INFORMATION

10 United Kingdom---$ 464,900,000,000---2008 est.

Economy - overview:

The UK, a leading trading power and financial center, is one of the quintet of trillion dollar economies of Western Europe. Over the past two decades, the government has greatly reduced public ownership and contained the growth of social welfare programs. Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanized, and efficient by European standards, producing about 60% of food needs with less than 2% of the labor force. The UK has large coal, natural gas, and oil resources... energy industries now contribute about 4% to GDP.

Since emerging from recession in 1992, Britain's economy enjoyed the longest period of expansion on record during which time growth outpaced most of Western Europe.

[sasguru]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/n...e-exports.html

Doubt situation has changed a great deal since then.

Ranking of export value in the arms industry changes significantly from year to year as it usually constitutes large one-off deals.
In any case the UK is far from the leading arms exporter in normal times - as the OP has shown, no. 10 would be about right.

[TinTrump]

In any case the UK is far from the leading arms exporter in normal times - as the OP has shown, no. 10 would be about right.

The rank of 10 from the CIA site was for all exports, not specific to defence.

Statistics released by UKTI DSO show that the UK was the second most successful global exporter in 2008, achieving £4.2b, 17% share of the global market for defence exports, close to the longer term target figure of 20%.
Over the last 5 years the top exporters' average market shares were: the United States (27%), the UK (21%), Russia (14%), France (9%), Germany (4%) and Israel (3.5%). Read the full details at the UKTI Newsroom (link opens site in new window)
http://www.deso.mod.uk/

Your turn...

[d000hg]

Last time we had a lot of discussion on exchange rates, many were of the opinion the Euro would unravel as member nations were stuff unable to play with their exchange rates. What say they now?

Also, everyone seems to focus on the £/€ rate. Isn't the £/$US the key one since $ is (for now) still the main world currency?

[chef]

greetings from Euroland, thank you for devaluing just as I was about to book nice cheap flights, hire car and pre-paid hotels for Hogmanay and the highlands this year before the tickets go on sale and prices go up..

now all I have to do is do some research and find somewhere nice..

[Doggy Styles]

www.xe.com...

1.00 EUR = 0.921499 GBP

soon one to one ?

Milan.

Exchange rate is a self-balancing tool among economies. It is not a problem unless we start printing money.

[suityou01]

Exchange rate is a self-balancing tool among economies. It is not a problem unless we start printing money.

Pheeeeew, that was a close one.

[TinTrump]

I do believe I've dispatched consecutive bouncers from Dim and Sas to the boundary for 6.