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Credit Institutions

Volume 222: debated on Thursday 2 April 1992

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To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the publicly-owned credit institutions in each EEC member state specified in the proposed article 104(2) in the Maastricht treaty to which prohibition in article 104(1) of overdraft and credit facilities to central and local governments does not apply.

It would not be possible to provide this list without disproportionate expense. The provision in article 104(2) would enable national central banks and the European central bank to treat publicly-owned credit institutions, in the same way as private credit institutions, in the context of the supply of reserves by central banks. In the absence of this provision, the prohibitions in article 104(1) would prevent the European central bank or national central banks from dealing with publicly-owned credit institutions in normal money market operations, which often involve, for example, the purchase by central banks of short term instruments.