§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will publish in the Official Report a table showing for each year since 1983 the value in terms of the dollar of the central rate used for determining common agricultural policy prices, the coefficient for the United Kingdom and the effect of any change as a result of realignments in the European monetary system on the central rate and on the monetary co-efficient for the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. GummerA central rate is a rate expressing the relationship between the European currency unit (ecu) and any one of the currencies that constitute the ecu for the purposes of the European monetary system (EMS). It does not have a value.
The correcting factor ("coefficient") used in the calculation of monetary compensatory amounts for all member states was 1.033651 from 1 April 1984 to 23 July 1985, 1.035239 from 24 July 1985 to 8 April 1986 and since 9 April has been 1.083682.
Central rates usually remain unchanged between EMS realignments. The rates for the United Kingdom since 1 January 1983 have been:
Value of lecu in £ sterling Rate 1 January 1983 to 20 March 1983 0.560453 21 March 1983 to 17 May 1983 0.629848 18 May 1983 to 16 September 1984 0.587087 17 September 1984 to 21 July 1985 0.585992 22 July 1985 to 6 April 1986 0.555312 7 April 1986 to date 0.630317 The United Kingdom monetary coefficient is calculated from the mathematical relationship between the representative rate for sterling (the "green" pound) and the market rate of sterling against the ecu. The effect of a realignment on the market value of sterling cannot be distinguished from the effect of other market factors.