British households are around £900 ($1,205) worse off than they would have been had the country not voted to leave the European Union, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said Tuesday.
That is a “lot of money,” the top central banker told a committee of lawmakers, according to AP. The British economy is 1.5 to 2 percent smaller in the two years since the Brexit vote than it could otherwise have been, after adjusting for further stimulus measures from the government and Bank of England and stronger growth in the rest of Europe, Carney said.
Britain’s chronic low productivity has also held back the economy, but Brexit has hurt growth. It reduced the value of the pound by around 15 percent against a range of currencies.
That raised the cost of imports like food and energy and increased inflation. Now, wages are outstripping inflation again.