§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Great Grimsby of 15 January,Official Report, column 461, on the reserves, if he will indicate how exchange rate mechanism intervention arrangements and swaps affect the published total inflows and outflows in the months since Britain joined the exchange rate mechanism.
§ Mr. MaplesIt has been the practice of successive Governments not to disclose details of official intervention in the foreign exchange markets: the information is market sensitive, and disclosure of details would risk undermining the effectiveness of intervention.
The European monetary co-operation Fund—EMCF—swap involves the issue of ECUs to European monetary system central banks in exchange for deposits by them of 20 per cent. of their gold and dollar reserves. Any valuation change arising from the quarterly rollover of the United Kingdom's EMCF swap is included in the published total of reserves.