§ Mr. Lawsonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish a table showing, for each member country of the OECD, the percentage change in the 179W trade-weighted external value of its currency since end-February 1974, arranged in descending order of appreciation.
§ Mr. Robert SheldonThe information is as follows:
PERCENTAGE CHANGE IN TRADE-WEIGHTED EXTERNAL VALUE OF CURRENCY SINCE END-FEBRUARY 1974 Switzerland +52 Germany +24 Austria +24 Japan +22 Netherlands +16 Belgium +13 Denmark + 7 Norway + 1 Sweden - 4 France - 5 United States - 7 Canada -11 United Kingdom -24 Italy -32 Effective exchange rates for other OECD countries are not calculated. But the exchange rates of most of these countries have depreciated substantially against the major currencies listed above. It is thus likely that if effective rates were available, these countries would appear at or near the bottom of the table.