If the US presidential election has devolved into a comical soundbite free-for-fall, then the UK has its hands full with Brexit, and how the two opposing camps are approaching the UK's vote to exit the Eurozone on June 23.
The International Monetary Fund is warning that a vote to leave the European Union next month could prompt a stock market crash and steep fall in house prices. Christine Lagarde, the IMF managing director and the Bank of England governor Mark Carney also warn that Britain could fall into recession following a Brexit vote. All that’s on top of the world war that British prime minister David Cameron has warned about should Britain decide to leave the EU… Brexit fear mongering? or are we really doomed if we vote ‘out’?
While the Bank of England voted unanimously 9-0 to keep rates on hold at 0.5%, what the market was far more focused on the BOE's latest gloomy scenarios about what would happen should the UK vote for Brexit on June 23. The BOE did not disappoint, and cautioned that that sterling could fall "sharply" and unemployment would probably rise, while in the press conference after the announcement BOE governor and former Goldmanite Mark Carney went all the way warning Brexit "could possibly lead to recession."
Following PM David Cameron's 'world war 3' warnings last week, Chancellor George Osborne joined the 'Project Fear' bandwagon today saying that Treasury is doing "quite a serious amount of contingency planning" into how Britain would deal with leaving the EU, warning of "very significant financial volatility" around the vote.
Mr Osborne denied he was "fiddling the figures" as he firmly defended an official Treasury analysis which set out the potential damage to the economy that could be caused by Brexit.