§ Mr. John Mooreasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to the extent that use of a parity rate of $2.89524 to the £ sterling gives an inflated and fictitious appearance to our reserve figures, if he will consider using only current market rates for official announcements.
§ Mr. DellThe level of the official reserves is published monthly in US dollar terms. But there is interest in the Press and elsewhere in a sterling series which indicates changes in the stock of reserves as a result of transactions as distinct from valuation changes. The sterling series published with the monthly reserves announcement provides this, albeit on the basis of a somewhat artificial rate, whereas a sterling series computed on the basis of market rates would make it impossible to separate the effects of transactions from those of valuation changes.