THE BANK OF ENGLAND

Liz Truss has been elected as the Conservative Party's new leader, the party announced Monday, and she will take office today as Britain's new prime minister to steer the country through an acute cost-of-living crisis.

Political uncertainty and growing economic woes, including spiralling inflation and the threat of a recession, are weighing heavily on the British pound, against both the U.S. dollar and the also struggling euro.    

In 2020, as Britain faced the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, it saw its biggest fall in output for more than 300 years, and a bigger fall than any other major economy showed updated official figures.

Bitcoin is up around 1% in 24 hours to $20,400. Ethereum added 3.2%, while other top 10 altcoins gained between 0.7% (Dogecoin) and 2.8% (XRP). Buyers have braced themselves on the back of positive stock indexes despite the strengthening Dollar. 

Central banks have ramped up their battle against runaway inflation, a necessary remedy that could have the adverse side effect of tipping countries into recession, analysts say.

The Bank of Japan on June 17 stuck to its long-held monetary easing policy even as other central banks around the world hike interest rates to tame inflation.    

But it said it would "pay due attention" to foreign exchange markets, a rare comment that comes after the yen hit a 24-year low against the dollar.    

British economic output declined for a second month in a row in April, weighed down by decades-high inflation, official data showed yesterday.    

Gross domestic product fell 0.3 percent in April after a drop of 0.1 percent in March, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.    

The British economy contracted by 0.3% in April. The Confederation of British Industry has called on the government to take urgent action to prevent an inflationary recession.

Environmental movement Extinction Rebellion on Aug. 27 demonstrated in the heart of London against the financing of fossil fuel industries by lenders in the City, as part of two weeks of planned action.

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Several hundred people marched to the beat of drums through the centre of the financial district.

Handling banknotes poses only a low risk of spreading Covid-19, the Bank of England has said, after it commissioned research to find out how long the virus lasts on cash.

The use of notes has dropped sharply since the pandemic hit in March, and the Bank said one reason could be fears that cash can carry the virus.