It wasn’t supposed to work out like this. The sharp fall in sterling after the 2016 Brexit referendum was touted by some pundits as a desirable step in rebalancing the economy by boosting net exports. In fact, figures released last week showed that in the third quarter the current account deficit widened by £6.6 billion from the previous quarter, to £26.5 billion, or 4.9 per cent of GDP. In both value terms and as a proportion of GDP, this is the biggest deficit since the third quarter of 2016.

Does this matter for economic health? Not necessarily, and not always. There is nothing wrong in itself with having a current account deficit. Sometimes it can become a problem, though, and Britain may be approaching that