During the three months from February to April, covered by this Commentary, sterling strengthened appreciably. There was a substantial inflow of foreign exchange: the balance of payments was probably in surplus during these months; leads and lags were being reversed as confidence in sterling recovered; private overseas sterling balances - which had fallen to a very low level last autumn - were being rebuilt; and the banks were switching a moderate amount of foreign currency deposits into sterling. The reserves rose in each month; a very large amount of short-term borrowing from other central banks was repaid; and there was a considerable reduction in the Exchange Equalisation Account's forward commitments to the market.
Published on
01 June 1967