asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to the extent that use of a parity rate of $2·89524 to the £ sterling gives an inflated and fictitious appearance to our reserve figures, if he will consider using only current market rates for official announcements.

The level of the official reserves is published monthly in US dollar terms. But there is interest in the Press and elsewhere in a sterling series which indicates changes in the stock of reserves as a result of transactions as distinct from valuation changes. The sterling series published with the monthly reserves announcement provides this, albeit on the basis of a somewhat artificial rate, whereas a sterling series computed on the basis of market rates would make it impossible to separate the effects of transactions from those of valuation changes.