Britain was the last world hegemon before the United States, and the pound was once the world currency. The current 1.7 1 has depreciated for decades.

During the outbreak of World War II, Britain implemented strict foreign exchange control and fixed the exchange rate of the pound at the level of 1 pound against US$ 4.03. 1September 1949, Britain announced that the pound depreciated by 30.5%, which reduced the exchange rate of the pound to $2.80; In June 1967,165438+1October 18, the pound depreciated again, the exchange rate dropped to $2.40, and the gold content of the pound dropped to 2. 13288. On August 5th 197 1 after the floating exchange rate of the US dollar was implemented, the exchange rate of the British pound against the US dollar began to be determined on the basis of unchanged gold content. After the official depreciation of the US dollar 18 on February 8, the new official exchange rate of the British pound against the US dollar rose to 1 US$ 2.6057. The real exchange rate can fluctuate in the range of 1 GBP to 2.547 1 USD to 2.6643 USD, with a fluctuation range of about 4.5%.