§ Mr. Meacherasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is estimated to be the loss under the Basle Agreement to guarantee official sterling area reserves if the £ sterling returned to parity at $2.35 and $2.30, respectively.
§ Mr. NottThe arrangements under the Sterling Agreements only provide in detail for the first implementation which became due on 23rd November. Subsequent arrangements are subject to consultations now in progress. I outlined the obligation arising from the first implementation in answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Enfield, West (Mr. Parkinson) on 9th November. It provides that a payment or credit will be made in sterling of the amount which makes good in dollar terms the difference between $2.40 and $2.3506 which was the closing middle Sterling/US dollar rate in London on 23rd November.
§ Mr. Meacherasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state the real value of £100 at each year since 1870 in terms of 1870 prices.
§ Mr. NottComparisons of the value of the pound over periods during which the whole pattern of expenditure has changed completely are of doubtful validity and can, at best, be regarded only as impressionistic. Also, for many of the years requested the relevant statistics are either very approximate or incomplete. With these reservations, the figures given in the table below represent the purchasing power in each year com- 333W parable to £100 in 1870. Figures for the years 1939 to 1945 are not available.
Year Value (£) Year Value (£) 1870 100 1918 55 1871 100 1919 52 1872 94 1920 45 1873 93 1921 49 1874 97 1922 61 1875 100 1923 64 1876 103 1924 63 1877 100 1925 63 1878 103 1926 65 1879 110 1927 66 1880 106 1928 67 1881 108 1929 68 1882 107 1930 70 1883 111 1931 75 1884 113 1932 77 1885 118 1933 79 1886 124 1934 79 1887 128 1935 78 1888 128 1936 76 1889 125 1937 72 1890 125 1938 71 1891 124 1946 42 1892 124 1947 39 1893 128 1948 37 1894 131 1949 36 1895 136 1950 35 1896 137 1951 32 1896 132 1952 30 1897 131 1953 30 1899 132 1954 29 1900 128 1955 28 1901 126 1956 27 1902 125 1957 26 1903 124 1958 25 1904 122 1959 25 1905 124 1960 25 1906 124 1961 24 1907 119 1962 23 1908 117 1963 23 1909 117 1964 22 1910 116 1965 21 1911 114 1966 20 1912 110 1967 20 1913 110 1968 19 1914 111 1969 18 1915 90 1970 17 1916 76 1971 16 1917 63 Sources:
1870–1914—Unofficial estimates by G. H. Wood.
1914–938—Ministry of Labour Cost of Living Index.
1938–1971—Consumer price index (the implicit price deflator derived from the national accounts estimates of consumers' expenditure at current and constant prices).