An independent Scotland that carried on using the pound without the permission of the rest of the UK would have a stronger economy than it does now, a free-market thinktank said on Thursday.
The Adam Smith Institute said the country would not only survive but thrive outside of a formal currency union provided there were changes to the banking system to inject competition and reduce risk-taking.
Adding to the political debate between the yes and no camps about the currency regime for a post-independent Scotland, the ASI said the nationalist leader Alex Salmond should follow the example of Panama, which uses the US dollar as its currency and does not have its own central bank.
Sam Bowman, the ASI’s research director, said Scotland should adopt a two-pronged approach – unilateral use of the pound together with the removal of protections for banks that allow them to engage in risky behaviour without suffering the consequences.
He added that the thinktank’s proposal for “adaptive sterlingisation” would allow Scottish commercial banks to issue promissory notes in unlimited quantities provided they were backed by reserves of pounds, dollars, gold, or even cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. The report, called Quids In, said this approach chimed with Scotland’s own banking history in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The currency question has been at the heart of the independence debate. The yes camp has said it would continue using the pound after independence while the no side has said Scotland will not be allowed to remain part of a currency union.
via The Guardian
0 коментарі:
Post a Comment