Credit Suisse warns of grave deflationary shock for Scotland
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard Politics and society
Last updated: September 9th, 2014
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/ambroseevans-pritchard/100028065/credit-suisse-warns-of-grave-deflationary-shock-for-scotland/
Here is the Credit Suisse note this morning on the shock in store for Scotland if it chooses to break up our Union, and if Britain declines to come to the rescue. It expects: recession; deposit flight; 20pc devaluation; 5/10pc cut in wages.
Just so you know, it is written by Andrew Garthwaite, Marina Pronina, Robert Griffiths, Nicolas Wylenzek, Richard Kersley, and Ashlee Ramanathan, a mix of nationalities.
In our opinion Scotland would fall into a deep recession. We believe deposit flight is both highly likely and highly problematic (with banks assets of 12x GDP) and should the Bank of England move to guarantee Scottish deposits, we expect it to extract a high fiscal and regulatory price (probably insisting on a primary budget surplus). The re-domiciling of the financial sector and UK public service jobs, as well as a legal dispute over North Sea oil, would further accelerate any downturn. In our opinion, as North Sea oil production slows, we estimate that the non-oil economy would need a 10% to 20% devaluation to restore competitiveness. This would require a 5% to 10% fall in wages, driven by a steep rise in unemployment.
Scotland can have a huge banking industry, or it can have independence linked to sterling, but it cannot do both unless the Bank of England props up its lenders as a lender of last resort. Perhaps the Bank will do that as a courtesy gesture, but why should it?
Currency options: We place a 40% probability on a peg to the pound (which we think would ultimately not hold) and a 10% probability on a freely floating currency. We place a 50% probability on a currency arrangement which would avoid devaluation against sterling: of this, we place a 25% probability on a formal currency union and a 25% probability on a Hong Kong-style currency board. We see a <1% chance of a Euro peg.
Significant deposit flight would require Scottish banks to offer much higher deposit rates, which would in turn increase borrowing costs for Scottish entities and individuals. This, in our view, would increase the risk of a severe economic downturn in Scotland post-independence.
With North Sea oil output in decline (with the Office for Budget Responsibility calculating that output has declined by an average of 7.8% per year since 1999 and recent estimates by Sir Ian Wood putting North Sea oil reserves at 15-16.5bn barrels versus estimates by the Scottish government of 24bn barrels), it is clear that the non-oil manufacturing base in Scotland would need to be clearly competitive in order to attract in capital.
Speaks for itself. I would only say that a Hong Kong style currency board is almost impossible because you need huge reserves to defend the peg – at least 50pc of GDP. Scotland would start with almost no reserves, since UK has almost none. (Not necessary if you have your own sovereign currency, and it floats.)
Credit Suisse does not address that point but it does say:
It cannot be lender of last resort. Moreover, if there was deposit flight, as would seem likely, there would then have to be a contraction in base money, which would likely trigger a sharp recession. This works in Hong Kong because wages can and do decline when there is capital flight, but it seems hard to envisage Scotland with such labour market flexibility.
I happen to think that Scotland could prosper eventually as an independent “Nordic” economy, just like Denmark. But there are a great number of analysts from across the world who fear that it will be an almighty fiasco for the next decade unless Britain props it up.
In my view, Britain will be forced to prop it up. Excuse me for feeling a slight irritation about this, as a Welshman.