Definitions
ECS and assigned debt consists of net borrowing – primarily by local government – under the 1969 and subsequent Exchange Cover Schemes. This includes foreign currency borrowed through UK banks and from abroad, the issue of foreign currency securities, and any debt owed under the Scheme by privatised public corporations at the time of privatisation. The final repayment of ECS debt was made on 30 October 2007. The proportion of other public sector debt assigned to the UK government drawn from UK banks and non-residents (these assignments include equal and offsetting reductions in other public sector borrowing under the ECS).
Debt instruments recorded under bonds and notes are as follows:
- An issue of $2,000 million floating-rate notes in October 1996
- An issue of ECU 2,500 million ten year bonds in February 1991
- From January 1992, quarterly issues of 3 year ECU/Euro Treasury Notes
- An issue of $3,000 million of 10 year bonds in December 1992
- An issue of $2,000 million of 5 year bonds in October 1996
- An issue of $3,000 million 5 year bonds in June 2003
Short-term loans consist of debt with a maturity of up to and including one year.
Medium and long-term loans consist of debt with a maturity of more than one year.
The liability due to the SDR allocation reflects the UK government’s potential obligation to repurchase SDRs to the extent of its allocation (in the event of the winding-up of the IMF SDR Department, or in other circumstances). The Bank’s treatment of this liability differs from that shown in the ONS publication, the Pink Book. The SDR allocation is shown as a memorandum item in the Pink Book.
Other liabilities comprises liabilities on account of repo transactions, unsettled trades and the net present value of the currency leg of forwards and swaps done against sterling.
Negative values correspond to future outflows of foreign currency.
