§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, further to his written reply dated 5 July concerning the exchange rate between the £ sterling and the ecu, whether he will publish in the Official Report a table showing for each month since March 1983 the average movement of the sterling divergence indicators.
§ Mr. Ian StewartThe information requested is in the table:
429W
£ divergence indicator*—monthly averages since March 1983 1983 1984 1985 January -147 321 February -90 276 March 425 30 146 April -236 61 -19 May -218 -3 -76 June -101 49 -121 July -100 73 August -174 31 September -150 21
£ divergence indicator*—monthly averages since March 1983 1983 1984 1985 October -78 97 November -146 130 December -124 178 * The divergence indicator is calculated by expressing the ecu's premium or discount against sterling (that is the percentage deviation of sterling's market ecu rate from its notional central rate) as a percentage of sterling's maximum divergence spread (ie 1.91 per cent.) if it were a normal member of the mechanism.