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Economic History - UK Leaves the Exchange Rate Mechanism

Level:
A-Level
Board:
AQA, Edexcel, IB, OCR

Last updated 22 Mar 2021

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Black Wednesday,16 September 1992

Black Wednesday - 16 September 1992

The UK Conservative government was forced to withdraw the Pound from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) due to pressure by currency speculators — most notably George Soros, who made over US$1 billion from this speculation. In 1997 the UK Treasury estimated the cost of Black Wednesday at £3.4 billion.

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