§ Mr. Terry Davisasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing real rates of interest on a quarterly basis for the period 1970 to the present, including figures for short-term and long-term interest rates, on the same basis as those shown on page 5 of the "Financial Statement and Budget Report 1984–85".
§ Mr. Ian StewartThere are many problems involved in measuring real rates of interest. A discussion of some of these problems together with some examples of short-term real interest rates were provided in the December 1983 Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin — pages396W 471–476. The return on indexed gilts might be used as one estimate of a longer-term real rate of interest over the last few years.