HC Deb 09 July 1974 vol 876 c462W
Mr. Sillars

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is our current level of gold and foreign currency reserves; and if he will show how this compares in real terms with the previous 10 years.

Mr. Dell

At the end of June the United Kingdom official reserves stood at $6,711 million, which is equivalent to £2,806 million if converted at the closing market rate on 28th June. The equivalent figures on 31st December 1973 were $6,476 million and £2,787 million.

Figures for earlier years are included in the "UK Balance of Payments 1973", Table 38:

TOTAL OFFICIAL RESERVES
End of Year £ million
1964 827
1965 1,073
1966 1,107
1967 1,123
1968 1,009
1969 1,053
1970 1,178
1971 2,526
1972 2,167

Attention is drawn to the footnotes and page 78 for a description of the conversion rates used.

There is no price index available which could be used to give any meaningful series for these totals in real terms.

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