§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what has been the change in the real and nominal exchange rate from 1979 to 1983 in (a) the United Kingdom, (b) the United States of America, (c) West Germany, (d) France and (c) Japan.
§ Mr. Ian StewartThere is no unique measure of real exchange rates. The one used in the table below is calculated from the effective exchange rate and GDP deflators, which have a relatively broad coverage of price movements.
Percentage change in real and nominal exchange rates between 1979 and 1983 Real* Nominal† United Kingdom +6.6 -4.6 United States of America +31.7 +33.3 West Germany -16.7 -0.2 France -14.4 -25.1 Japan -9.4 + 12.9 * HMT calculation using the IMF's effective exchange rate measures, deflated in each case by an index of relative price movements (measured by GDP deflators) in the domestic and competitors' economies. Competitors' price movements are a weighted average of prices in other major OECD countries: the weights are as in the IMF's multilateral exchange rate model. † Taken from IFS, February 1984.