§ Mr. Matthew TaylorTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what the profits were from the Bank of England's investment of the reserves net of management charges for the last five years; [106799]
(2) what the cost was of holding the Government's foreign currency reserves in the last five years. [106798]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonThe 1997–98 accounts of the Exchange Equalisation Account, the account at the Bank of England which holds the United Kingdom's foreign currency and gold reserves, were published on 26 January. These accounts were the first ever accounts of the Exchange Equalisation Account to be published. The accounts for 1998–99 will be published once the National Audit Office has completed its audit.
The Treasury has a PSA target to:
minimise the cost of holding the Government's foreign currency reserves, while reducing risk".A report on performance against this target will be published in the Treasury's Departmental Report to be published later this year.