sterling area

British

noun

Also called: sterling bloc. scheduled territories. a group of countries that use sterling as a medium of international payments and sometimes informally as a currency against which to peg their own currencies. For these purposes they deposit sterling balances and hold gold and dollar reserves in the Bank of England

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“We built up the pre-war sterling area because we were bankers amiable to treat with and having a long record of honouring our cheques.”

From Economist • Jun. 28, 2018

Because the Scottish people are concerned about joining the Euro, he now says he would join the pound sterling area.

From BBC • Sep. 6, 2012

Iceland was low man with $15 million; the vast sterling area, which was admitted as a single trading partner, got $1.06 billion.

From Time Magazine Archive

Britain owes about $16 billion in foreign debts, mostly within the sterling area and therefore payable only in sterling.

From Time Magazine Archive

It will enable the whole sterling area and other countries affiliated with it to resume trade on a multilateral basis.

From State of the Union Address by Truman, Harry S.

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023