Gold and Foreign Currency Reserves

HC Deb 04 December 1996 vol 286 cc648-9W

Mr. Simpson

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the latest available figures for the percentage of gross domestic product held in gold and foreign currency reserves by each European Union member state. [5678]

Mrs. Angela Knight

The details requested are set out in the table.

	Total reserves1 $ billion	Total reserves/GDP (per cent.)	Reserves/EU reserves (per cent.)	GDP/EU GDP (per cent.)
Austria	23.07	10.3	4.6	2.6
Belgium	23.22	8.9	4.7	3.1
Denmark	15.18	8.9	3.0	2.0
Finland	6.84	5.5	1.4	1.5
France	58.57	3.8	11.8	18.0
Germany	94.02	4.1	18.9	27.2
Greece	12.96	10.7	2.6	1.4
Ireland	7.84	12.0	1.6	0.8
Italy	75.20	6.1	15.1	14.4
Luxembourg	0.09	0.5	0.0	0.2

	Total reserves1 $ billion	Total reserves/GDP (per cent.)	Reserves/EU reserves (per cent.)	GDP/EU GDP (per cent.)
Netherlands	39.44	10.2	7.9	4.5
Portugal	20.71	19.7	4.2	1.2
Spain	53.94	9.4	10.8	6.8
Sweden	21.51	8.5	4.3	3.0
UK	45.41	4.0	9.1	13.4
Total/Average	497.97	5.8	100.0	100.0
Note:
1 Gold figures are at national valuations. Because of different valuation conventions for gold throughout the EU, these figures are not strictly comparable.

Source:

International Financial Statistics (IMF), September 1996 (June 1996 data for total reserves).

European Monetary Institute, June 1996 forecast for 1996 GDP at market prices.

Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin.