The news sent the pound plunging acutely against two resilient currencies: the Japanese yen and the U.S. dollar.
But this was before world markets collapsed, previously resilient global currencies plunged and many thousands across the continent faced mass redundancies.
In the early part of the crisis Australia's well-capitalised banks proved remarkably resilient; more recently, the currency has benefited from a spike in commodities prices, and from strong exports to China.
In the early part of the crisis Australia's well-capitalised banks proved remarkably resilient; more recently, the currency has benefited from a spike in commodities prices (see article), and from strong exports to China.
Even Chile's currency, remarkably resilient this year, is giving way.
The new regime of targeted inflation and floating currencies was resilient, he argued.
The underlying performance at constant currencies was resilient, with a solid performance in developed markets and mixed conditions in emerging markets.
Instead, Japan must undertake structural reforms to make its economy more resilient to fluctuations in its currency, he said.
Next month, European heads of government will hold a summit meeting to continue working on ways to make the common currency area more resilient, for example by pooling supervision of banks.
Commodity-based currencies were the most resilient since Thursday's shift, as the Australian dollar fell to 90.38 cents against the greenback, from 90.61, while the Canadian dollar rose to 95.78 cents, from 95.07.
