asked the Minister for Finance the total amount of Ireland's external assets at the latest available date; where these assets are invested; and the present interest yield on them.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - External Assets.
29.
The latest statistics available from the Central Bank show that the official reserves at the end of November, 1973, amounted to £442.2 million as follows:
|
£million |
|
|
Gold |
7.6 |
|
Special Drawing Rights issued by the International Monetary Fund |
16.4 |
|
Reserve position in the International Monetary Fund |
16.9 |
|
Sterling securities and deposits |
250.0 |
|
Other foreign securities and deposits |
151.3 |
The yields on these assets vary from nil in the case of gold and the allocated Special Drawing Rights to the going rates in international financial markets for foreign currency securities and deposits. The latter yields vary widely depending upon the currency, the type of security, the period to maturity and the day-to-day level of international rates and it is not possible to give representative yields for these investments.
Will the Minister indicate how the £250 million is invested? I think he said in sterling.
It is sterling and other deposits. It is not entirely in sterling but most of it is in sterling.
Is the Minister satisfied that that amount of official external assets are necessary, especially this £250 million?
We are continuing our examination of the reserves which we have and as circumstances may make it advantageous to us we will change the holding of these reserves and this would include, perhaps, a possible revision of the present holding in sterling.
Would the Minister indicate if the agreement with the British Government in regard to the proportion of our external assets that we hold in sterling is under review or is due for review?
It is indeed under review at present because at the moment we are operating under a six month continuation of the old arrangement and representations are being made in this matter which we hope will be to our advantage.
Can the Minister give any indication as to whether it is likely that we will continue to adhere to some fixed percentage of holdings in sterling?
As the Deputy will appreciate, if we are to get benefit from the arrangement whereby our values are fixed at a certain level we will probably have to continue to give an undertaking to keep a certain percentage in sterling, but this whole matter is at present under review and it would not be appropriate at the moment to discuss the matter in any detail.