HC Deb 13 November 1979 vol 973 cc540-1W
Mr. Austin Mitchell

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the gain and loss to the gold and foreign currency reserves each month since the beginning of 1976 to date, and the amount spent in the course of each month on exchange intervention.

Mr. Lawson

The monthly change in the official reserves from the beginning of 1976 to date is set out in column (1) of the table below. Column (2) shows the effect on the monthly reserves change of public sector foreign currency debt transactions, as contained in the monthly reserves announcement. The monthly reserve change, after taking account of these public sector debt transactions, which is set out in column (3), is the result of a variety of transactions including market intervention, Government foreign currency expenditure and trans-

$ million
Date Column (1) Column (2) Column (3)
Reserves change Public sector external borrowing Reserves change net of public sector borrowing
January 1976 … … +1,356 +1,341 +15
February 1976 … … +239 +253 -14
March 1976 … … -1,119 +158 -1,277
April 1976 … … … -1,057 +429 -1,486
May 1976 … … … +575 +1,041 -466
June 1976 … … … -111 +395 -506
July 1976 … … … +58 +326 -268
August 1976 … … -341 +185 -526
September 1976 … … +129 +336 -207
October 1976 … … -455 — -455
November 1976 … … +453 +604 -151
December 1976 … … -1,027 +102 -1,129
January 1977 … … +3,067 +1,173 +1,894
February 1977 … … +591 +260 +331
March 1977 … … +1,831 +756 +1,075
April 1977 … … … +512 -2 +514
May 1977 … … … -229 +376 -605
June 1977 … … … +1,671 +780 +891
July 1977 … … … +1,850 +56 +1,794
August 1977 … … +1,430 +474 +956
September 1977 … … +2,319 +551 +1,768
October 1977 … … +3,040 +4 +3,036
November 1977 … … +183 — +183
December 1977 … … +163 -94 +257
January 1978 … … +311 +73 +238
February 1978 … … -167 -403 +236
March 1978 … … -381 -100 -281
April 1978 … … … -3,282 -1,167 -2,115
May 1978 … … … -377 +273 -650
June 1978 … … … -119 -68 -51
July 1978 … … … +193 -135 +328
August 1978 … … -330 -179 -151
September 1978 … … +106 +43 +63
October 1978 … … -540 -647 +107
November 1978 … … -302 -120 -182
December 1978 … … +25 -130 +155
January 1979 … … +564 +489 +75
February 1979 … … +359 +186 +173
March 1979 … … +837 -180 +1,017
April 1979 … … … -480 -1,155 +675
May 1979 … … … +65 -238 +303
June 1979 … … … +538 -50 +588
July 1979 … … … +1,429 -276 +1,705
August 1979 … … -194 -48 -146
September 1979 … … -554 -123 -431
October 1979 … … -253 -43 -210