Exchange Rate

HC Deb 01 April 1985 vol 76 cc500-2W

Mr. Gould

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will publish in the Official Report a table showing, for each month since the United Kingdom joined the European monetary system, what effect the change in the exchange rate for the pound sterling had on the value of the European currency unit against other currencies and in terms of its value with the pound sterling.

Mr. Ian Stewart

The table give exchange rates for the United States dollar and sterling against the ecu as standardly defined, and against the ecu minus its sterling currency component, monthly^* from March 1979:

	$/ECU	£/ECU
Date	Including	Excluding	Including	Excluding
	£	£†	£	£‡
1979
March	1.352	1.169	0.654	0.565
April	1.333	1.151	0.648	0.559
May	1.331	1.148	0.644	0.556
June	1.320	1.128	0.609	0.520
July	1.382	1.180	0.606	0.517
August	1.385	1.186	0.615	0.527
September	1.428	1.234	0.650	0.562
October	1.375	1.191	0.662	0.574
November	1.428	1.322	0.650	0.565
December	1.438	1.241	0.647	0.558
1980
January	1.434	1.233	0.632	0.544

	$/ECU	£/ECU
Date	Including	Excluding	Including	Excluding
	£	£†	£	£‡
February	1.412	1.210	0.620	0.531
March	1.303	1.111	0.601	0.513
April	1.391	1.190	0.523	0.525
May	1.410	1.204	0.605	0.517
June	1.430	1.210	0.605	0.517
July	1.417	1.210	0.606	0.518
August	1.411	1.199	0.590	0.501
September	1.400	1.189	0.586	0.498
October	1.347	1.131	0.552	0.464
November	1.326	1.117	0.562	0.473
December	1.310	1.099	0.548	0.461
1981
January	1.230	1.019	0.518	0.427
February	1.194	0.999	0.542	0.453
March	1.210	1.011	0.540	0.450
April	1.148	0.959	0.535	0.448
May	1.094	0.911	0.528	0.440
June	1.055	0.883	0.544	0.454
July	1.023	0.859	0.554	0.463
August	1.022	0.859	0.554	0.468
September	1.067	0.908	0.589	0.504
October	1.084	0.921	0.587	0.499
November	1.115	0.941	0.565	0.478
December	1.180	1.011	0.568	0.530
1982
January	1.059	0.892	0.562	0.474
February	1.017	0.856	0.559	0.471
March	0.995	0.837	0.558	0.470
April	1.022	0.864	0.570	0.483
May	1.018	0.859	0.568	0.480
June	0.960	0.806	0.552	0.464
July	0.961	0.807	0.553	0.464
August	0.943	0.791	0.549	0.460
September	0.931	0.781	0.550	0.461
October	0.918	0.770	0.548	0.460
November	0.934	0.791	0.578	0.491
December	0.968	0.825	0.600	0.511
1983
January	0.938	0.803	0.612	0.524
February	0.944	0.809	0.620	0.532
March	0.924	0.793	0.625	0.536
April	0.921	0.783	0.590	0.501
May	0.906	0.764	0.563	0.475
June	0.892	0.757	0.583	0.495
July	0.862	0.727	0.567	0.478
August	0.843	0.711	0.565	0.476
September	0.859	0.727	0.575	0.486
October	0.859	0.727	0.575	0.486
November	0.838	0.708	0.573	0.483
December	0.827	0.699	0.571	0.482
1984
January	0.801	0.677	0.571	0.482
February	0.860	0.728	0.578	0.489
March	0.860	0.732	0.598	0.507
April	0.829	0.705	0.590	0.505
May	0.819	0.696	0.592	0.502
June	0.804	0.684	0.594	0.506
July	0.773	0.657	0.592	0.503
August	0.775	0.660	0.592	0.507
September	0.739	0.629	0.593	0.504
October	0.736	0.629	0.604	0.517
November	0.722	0.617	0.601	0.514
December	0.709	0.607	0.610	0.525
1985
January	0.704	0.605	0.623	0.537
February	0.667	0.572	0.614	0.529
March	0.711	0.603	0.583	0.489

Notes:

^* All figures are end-month, except for March 1985, where the figures refer to 27 March.

† S/ECU (excluding £) = ($/ECU) - ($/£ x amount of £ in ECU basket). Prior to the change in the ECU's definition on 17 September 1984, the currency amount of sterling in the ECU was £0.0885; since then it has been £0.0878.

‡ £/ECU (excluding £) = (£/$) × ($/ECU (excluding £)).

Mr. Gould

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of the effect on output and employment of each one percentage change in the real exchange rate between sterling and the deutschmark.

Mr. Ian Stewart

Reliable quantitative estimates are not available. The effect will depend on the reason for the change in the exchange rate, on what is happening to other exchange rates, and on assumptions about other developments in the economy.