§ Mr. William Hamiltonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish in the Official Reporta table showing the changes made in Royal annuities for the years 1975 to 1977 inclusive; and what place there are for further increases in the next year.
§ Mr. HealeyThe information is as follows:
The United Kingdom's official reserves at end October were $20.2 billion, of which $ 0.9 billion were held in gold, $.6 billion in special drawing rights, and $18.7 billion in US dollars and other convertible currencies.
The Government do not publish detailed information about investment of the currency reserves. They are invested in first-class assets, balancing as appropriate considerations of security, liquidity, yield and the currency composition of our external obligations. The bulk of the currency reserves are invested in relatively short-term assets, and the yield on them broadly reflects the level of short-term interest rates in the United States and elsewhere.