HC Deb 13 May 1992 vol 207 cc113-5W
Mr. Austin Mitchell

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the real interest rates in(a) Germany and (b) Britain month by month since Britain's entry into the exchange rate mechanism.

Mr. Nelson

The following rates were calculated using three-month money market rates. The United Kingdom figures were deflated by the retail prices index excluding mortgage interest payments; the German rates were deflated by the consumer prices index excluding rent, a more comparable measure than headline CPI. Appropriate figures are only available as far as February 1992.

Germany United Kingdom
1990
October 5.1 4.1
November 5.7 4.1
December 6.4 4.4
1991
January 6.5 5.0
February 6.4 4.3
March 6.8 3.7
April 6.4 4.8
May 6.1 4.6
June 5.5 4.1
July 4.5 4.0
August 5.1 4.4
September 5.2 4.3
October 5.9 4.7
November 5.1 4.5
December 5.4 4.7
1992
January 5.5 4.8
February 5.3 4.5

Mr. Austin Mitchell

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give the level of real interest rates in January 1987, January 1989, January 1990 and every month since January 1991 to date.

Mr. Nelson

[holding answer 11 May 1992]: The following figures have been calculated by deflating average three-month inter bank rates for each month by the retail-prices index excluding mortgage interest payments for the same month. Hence no figures are available after March 1992, the last month for which the RPI is available. The figures are percentages.

Per cent.
January 1987 7.2
January 1989 7.2
January 1990 8.6
January 1991 5.1
February 4.3
March 3.7
April 4.9
May 4.4
June 4.6
July 1991 4.6

Per cent.
August 4.4
September 4.4
October 4.6
November 4.5
December 4.7
January 1992 4.8
February 4.5
March 4.6

Mr. Austin Mitchell

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the level of real interest rates in May 1987, May 1989, May 1991 and May 1992 in Japan, the United States of America and the United Kingdom, respectively.

Mr. Nelson

[holding answer 11 May 1992]: The following figures were calculated using three-month market rates for each country. The United Kingdom figures were deflated using the retail prices index excluding mortgage interest payments; those for the United States and Japan used consumer prices indices with housing costs stripped out, to give a more comparable figure. Figures for May 1992 are not yet available.

May 1987 May 1989 May 1991
Japan 4.1 1.9 4.4
USA 2.7 2.1 0.8
United Kingdom 4.8 6.8 6.5