Euro (Hansard, 27 November 2000)

§ Sir Peter Tapsell
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what total amount of purchases of the euro has been made by the Treasury and Bank of England since 1 January 1999. [135972]

§ Mr. Clappison
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, (1) pursuant to his oral answer to the hon. Member for Louth and Horncastle (Sir P. Tapsell) of 9 November 2000,Official Report, column 427, what the value is of euros purchased by the Treasury and the Bank of England since 1 January 1999; and if the Treasury and the Bank of England have made a loss as a result of these operations; [138664]
(2) how much the Treasury and the Bank of England have lost as a result of the purchasing of euros since 1 January 1999. [138838]

§ Mr. Cash
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost is to date to Her Majesty's Government of trading operations in the foreign exchange markets relating to the euro. [138674]

§ Miss Melanie Johnson
[holding answers 6 and 16 November 2000]: Net purchases of euros since 1 January 1999 have resulted from the reinvestment of the $2 billion proceeds from the nine gold auctions held to date. The currency split of the reinvestment is the same as the existing net foreign currency reserves (40 per cent. dollars; 40 per cent. euros; and 20 per cent. yen). The programme of gold sales is part of a prudent restructuring of the reserves aimed at achieving a better balanced portfolio by diversifying assets more widely. It would not be meaningful to provide a snapshot of the value of these medium-term portfolio decisions as this could be distorted by short-term fluctuations in asset prices and currencies.
The UK also participated in the concerted intervention by the G7 monetary authorities on 22 September 2000 by purchasing 85 million euros against sterling. The Government do not comment on individual currency transactions.
477W

§ Mr. Loughton
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he had with the Governor and Court of the Bank of England ahead of the recent international support for the euro; and how much has been spent from UK reserves in that operation since 1 September. [134628]

§ Miss Melanie Johnson
[holding answer 26 October 2000]: The Chancellor has regular discussions with the Governor of the Bank of England. Details of intervention undertaken during September were published in the monthly Foreign Currency Reserves press notice on 4 October.