§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish in the Official Report his esimate of the change in the value of the green pound since May 1979 and the effect this has had on the retail food prices index and on the overall retail prices index.
§ Mrs. FennerI have been asked to reply.
Devaluations of the green pound (representative rate) since May 1979 have, for different commodities, resulted in increases in support prices expressed in sterling which have varied between 14 and 21 per cent. Between May 1979 and June 1986 the retail prices index rose by 79 per cent. and the retail food price index by 57 per cent. Retail prices of food and other goods and services were affected by many factors: it is not possible to estimate reliably the extent to which green pound devaluations alone contributed to the recorded increases. However, since the green pound has a direct impact on only about one third of consumers' total expenditure on food, the impact is likely to have been modest: food has a weight in the all items retail prices index of 18 per cent.