§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the extent to which the expansion of domestic credit is under control; what effect the influx of foreign funds has had on this; what measures he has taken to sterilise the influx and with what results; and if he will publish in theOfficial Report a table showing for each year since 1972 and the current year to date the expansion of domestic credit and the increase in sterling M3 in cash and in percentage terms.
§ Mr. Lilley[holding answer 27 July 1988]: Domestic credit is monitored as part of the continuous and comprehensive assessment of monetary conditions on which interest rate decisions are based. External influences are taken into account together with all other relevant factors.
The Government's policy is to ensure that, over time, any net foreign exchange intervention is fully funded.
Sterling M3 is now called M3. Figures for M3 and its credit counterparts are available in the annual supplement of Economic Trends 1988, and more recent figures are in Financial Statistics.