§ Mr. Richard Wainwrightasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the margin of clearing bank base lending rate above the current rate of annual inflation, according to the most recent available figures; and what this margin was at similar dates in 1981, 1980 and 1979.
§ Mr. WakehamThe margin of clearing bank base lending rate above the current rate of annual inflation is given in the table below. September has been used as this is the last month for which retail price index figures are available for 1982.
Year Base Rates Retail Price Index* Margin 1979 September 14 16.5 -2.5 1980 September 16 15.9 0.1 1981 September 14 11.4 2.6 1982 September 10½ 7.3 3.2 * Year on year rate.