LONDON (MktNews) - The current value of the pound sterling is too high and is damaging UK manufacturing and other externally exposed sectors of the economy, Willem Buiter, the chief economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and former member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, said Monday. "There is no doubt that the level of the pound is inappropriate and has been for a long time," Buiter said at a conference at the Royal Institute of International Affairs. "There is no doubt in my mind that the continuing strength of sterling has contributed to the fact that the economically sheltered sector has done better than the internationally exposed sector," he said. He said that for almost six years, sterling has remained strong at a high cost to UK industry. In his comments to the conference, he also restated the benefits of European Economic and Monetary Union, arguing that large currency zones avoid the economic shocks created by currency movements.