4 points on keeping the pound

From loans to tourism, changing the monetary unit would mean a massive shift.

09:51 29 April 2013

In the quest for independence, Scotland has decided to keep the pound as its form of currency. There are those who disagree, and those who agree with the decision. There are some practical reasons the pound may be a desired form of currency for Scotland, even in the event of independence.

 

• Loans—all loans could remain under the same currency they are at now, which means customers would not have to be concerned about monetary conversions in order to make their loan payments.

 

• Businesses—businesses that are used to accepting the pound, would not have to change their standard operations and financials at all to accommodate a shift in currency.

 

• Commerce—as in the case of loans, commerce will benefit by keeping the pound as the form of currency since Scotland will no doubt continue to do business within the UK.

 

• Tourism—since there is a lot of tourism from other countries within the UK, keeping the same currency makes it much easier for travellers to plan vacations. Tourism brings in a significant amount of revenue for the country, and it’s important to consider the ramifications on the industry if the monetary unit is changed.

 

It’s obvious that many of these factors have been taken into consideration when making the decision to keep the same monetary unit. If the units changed, there could be costs when it comes to having exchange money etc.

 

Banks would need to be prepared to offer exchanges, there would need to be agreement on a different form of tender if the pound was to be rejected. Not only may businesses be affected, but the everyday person would also.

 

Credit cards, loans, groceries, and utilities would all be in different tenders and travelling would require money exchanges.