asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish a table showing, for each member country of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the percentage change in the trade-weighted external value of its currency since 1st January 1978, arranged in descending order of appreciation.

The information is as follows:

Percentage changes in effective exchange rate indices 3rd January 1978 to 26th May 1978
Japan	…	+6·6
Denmark	…	+2·8
United States of America	…	+0·4
France	…	+0·3
Italy	…	+0·3
Netherlands	…	+0·3
Sweden	…	-0·2
Switzerland	…	-0·2
Austria	…	-0·9
Belgium	…	-1·2
Germany	…	-1·4
Australia	…	-1·6
Canada	…	-2·0
Norway	…	-6·6
United Kingdom	…	-8·0

Effective rate indices for other OECD countries are not available.Over the same period, the currencies of these countries have shown the following movements against sterling:

Spain	…	…	+5
New Zealand	…	…	+5
Finland	…	…	-2
Greece	…	…	-4
Portugal	…	…	-9
Iceland	…	…	-16
Turkey	…	…	-32

Sterling was affected by the speculation against the dollar in early January, and a rather different picture is presented by the movement in effective exchange rates over the last year:

Percentage changes 26th May 1977–26th May 1978
Switzerland	…	…	+22
Japan	…	…	+21
Germany	…	…	+5
Austria	…	…	+4
Belgium	…	…	+1
Netherlands	…	…	+1
Denmark	…	…	+1
France	…	…	0
United Kingdom	…	…	0
Australia	…	…	-3

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if, pursuant to his Answer, Official Report, 21st April, column 387, concerning changes in trade-weighted values of various currencies, he will update the table to the latest available date.

The information is as follows:

Percentage changes in effective exchange rate indices—end February 1974 to 26th May 1978
Switzerland	…	+49
Japan	…	+27
Austria	…	+22
Germany	…	+20
Netherlands	…	+14
Belgium	…	+10
Denmark	…	+ 8
France	…	- 2
Norway	…	- 2
Sweden	…	- 4
United States of America	…	- 7
Canada	…	-10
United Kingdom	…	-28
Italy	…	-32