The British pound hit a 2 month low against the US dollar today as another round of polls showed that Britain is heading out of the EU when the vote is held next week.

At 7.18pm (GMT) the English currency was trading at US1.4116 down over 1 percent from yesterday’s trading.

The prospect that Britain will leave the EU has thrown the local currency into turmoil and the closer the vote becomes the more the panic is going to set in.

“Lately we are seeing some momentum for ‘Leave’ reflected across opinion polls, and that is bringing the risk back again,” said Alvin T. Tan, a London-based foreign-exchange strategist at Societe Generale SA.

 “The fears are much more obvious in the options space, with two-week pound volatility at record highs.” he added

Also putting pressure on the pound was strong retail sales figures released form the US which came in at 0.5 percent against analysts’ expectations for a 0.3 percent rise.

 The numbers may give the US Federal Reserve some food for thought when they sit down for their next decision on interest rates.

Many analysts had been predicting a weak retail sales figure but this release shows the sector to be in good shape.

"The strength of the May retail sales report should provide plenty of comfort to those concerned that the recent slump in payrolls would be followed by a downturn in activity," said Steve Murphy, U.S. economist at Capital Economics