Published by Mark Smith HalvorsenBusiness secretary Peter Mandelson has declared that the 25 per cent depreciation of the pound has bolstered recovery in the UK by encouraging foreign investment in the country.In an interview with the Telegraph, the former EU trade commissioner said that the domestic economy has also benefited from its independence from the eurozone and paid particular praise to the Bank of England's use of this autonomy.While the UK has embarked on an unprecedented quantitative easing programme, the European Central Bank has pursued a more conservative strategy, avoiding use of the controversial liquidity mechanism except to buy €60 billion worth of covered bonds.Following Lord Mandelson's statement that "sterling flexibility has provided an additional support to demand", the pound dropped during foreign exchange trading this morning (January 4th), marking the second day of losses for the currency.Speaking to Bloomberg, Yoh Nihei, trading group manager at Tokai Tokyo Securities, described Lord Mandelson's comments as "pound-negative".For more information on international payments, visit our Smart FX site