With the financial world in turmoil, it might be expected that the value of the British Pound against the US Dollar would be considerably less now, as Barack Obama heads into the White House, than when George W Bush first became President of the USA in 2001. But analysis by leading foreign exchange specialist, ICE (International Currency Exchange), reveals that as of the morning of President Obama's inauguration, the value of Sterling is only 3.9% lower than the exchange rate on George W Bush's inauguration day eight years ago.

The ICE research also shows that there is less than 10 cents difference (-8.8%) in the rate between Obama's inauguration date and Bill Clinton's in 1993.

"What our analysis shows is that despite the big swings in economic fortunes over the last eight years, we are actually entering the new era of a Democratic President with a very similar Sterling - Dollar exchange rate to that when George W Bush first entered the White House", confirmed Andrew Hamilton, Head of Marketing for ICE. "And it wasn't much lower than when Bill Clinton first entered the Oval Office."

British £ exchange rate to US $ dollar on Presidential Inauguration Days

January 20, 2009 Barack Obama $1.4188 January 20, 2001 George W. Bush $1.4738 January 20, 1993 William J. Clinton $1.5434 January 20, 1989 George H. W. Bush $1.7778 January 20, 1981 Ronald W. Reagan $2.4185 January 20, 1977 James E. Carter $1.7165 August 9, 1974 Gerald R. Ford $2.3730