§ Mr. Mike O'BrienTo ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to his answer of 22 May,Official Report, column 265, how much Britain has gained or lost in pounds sterling as a result of changes in exchange rates in each of the last three years. [31261]
§ Mr. Eggar[holding answer 4 June 1996]: The structural funds regulations provide for a number of block allocations of grants for multi-annual programmes to be made to each member state. These allocations, like the whole of the EC budget, from which they are drawn, are denominated in ecu. Changes in exchange rates therefore affect the value in national currencies of the structural funds grants received by all member states. There are no losses or gains in sterling terms since the sterling equivalent of the ecu value of the allocations are known only when the programmes are completed.