Positive thinking

Jonathan Perraton, University of Sheffield Britain has £490 billion less in its coffers than previously thought, according to revised estimates of Britain’s balance of payments from the UK’s official statistics body, the ONS. Whereas previous estimates indicated that in 2016 Britain’s assets overseas exceeded its liabilities to the tune of £469 billion, this has now been revised downwards to a net deficit of £22 billion. In the context of the potential disruption to trade and foreign investment from Brexit, this is a worrying development. It is important to note that this does not mean that the country has suddenly become nearly half a trillion pounds poorer. The ONS has now collected more detailed data on Britain’s financial transactions with the rest of the world to build up a more accurate picture of its net stock of external wealth. Nevertheless, the figures do indicate that the UK’s external wealth position is much weaker than previously thought. ...