HL Deb 24 February 1998 vol 586 cc90-1WA
Lord Acton

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What has been the purchasing power parity of the pound relative to the United States dollar in each of the last five years. [HL644]

Lord McIntosh of Haringey

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Chief Executive of the Office for National Statistics, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter to Lord Acton from the Director of the Office for National Statistics, Dr. T. Holt, dated 24 February 1998.

I have been asked, as Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), to reply to your recent question on the purchasing power parity of the pound relative to the United States dollar.

Purchasing power parities (PPPs) for the pound relative to the US dollar for the last five years are given in the table below. These are the official international comparisons published by the OECD.

The figures shown for 1993 and 1994 are not entirely consistent with those for later periods. This is because of improvements in the methodology underlying the UK PPP. Further details are given in the article International Comparisons of GDP per head over time which was published in the March 1997 Edition of Economic Trends, a copy of which can be found in the House of Lords Library.

PPPs from 1970 to 1996 can be found in Table 3 (part 8) of the OECD's annual publication, National Accounts Main Aggregates Volume 1, 1998 Edition. Projections for 1997 can be found in the Appendix to the OECD's monthly publication, Main Economic Indicators, February 1998 Edition, copies of which can be found in the House of Lords library.

Purchasing Power Parities; Pounds per US Dollar

  • 1997* 0.677
  • 1996* 0.675
  • 1995 0.670
  • 1994 0.646
  • 1993 0.637

*OECD projections, Source: OECD.