Pound Hits Highest Level Since September

In some very encouraging news for interests in Montserrat, the pound has hit its highest level since mid-September, as investors welcomed the appointment of Rishi Sunak as prime minister and the dollar fell.

Sterling surged by 1.9% to $1.149 on Tuesday - the highest it has been since before Liz Truss's mini-budget.

Government borrowing costs also fell to where they were last month, in a boost for Mr Sunak who took over on Tuesday.

Financial markets have seen turmoil in recent weeks amid concerns about the UK economy.

Similarly, Montserrat’s budgetary allocation from the UK Government was facing a shortfall of up to 15-million East Caribbean dollars due to the downward spiral of the pound sterling.

With the value of the pound on the increase, it is anticipated that the budgetary deficit faced by the government of Montserrat would decrease.

In a speech Tuesday, Mr Sunak warned that the country faced a "profound economic crisis" with "difficult decisions" ahead.

Experts said the pound's strength was partly a "relief rally" after Mr Sunak was appointed, but also due to the dollar's weakness.

Speaking to the BBC, Jeremy Stretch, head of FX Strategy at CIBC, says the sterling was already having a good day, emphasizing that there's no doubt there's a relief rally there in terms of apparent stability in the macro-economic picture after Sunak came in.