Which country abandoned its currency peg during the 1992 Black Wednesday market crash?

The United Kingdom abandoned its currency peg during the 1992 Black Wednesday market crash.

On September 16, 1992, the British government withdrew the pound sterling from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, commonly called the ERM. The decision followed intense pressure from currency traders who believed the pound was overvalued and could not remain within its required trading band.

The government had raised interest rates and announced other measures in an attempt to support sterling. Those actions failed to restore confidence, and Britain eventually suspended the pound's ERM membership. The day became known as Black Wednesday in the United Kingdom.

The event damaged the reputation of the Conservative government led by John Major, even though the British economy later benefited from lower interest rates and a recovery. “Black Wednesday” is sometimes confused with Black Monday or Black Tuesday, names associated with stock-market crashes. Its central event was a currency crisis and forced exchange-rate exit rather than a single Wall Street share-price collapse.