Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Earl of Caithness (Conservative). It was answered on Wednesday, 18 March 2009.

Money Supply

Question: My Lords, in that case, could the noble Lord kindly tell the House what criteria the Government are using to measure the success or failure of the current calculated gamble by the Bank of England and how much money they expect the Bank to lose when they have to withdraw money out of the wider economy to stop rampant inflation?

Answer: My Lords, I take exception to the notion that the Bank of England, of all institutions, is involved in a gamble. The Bank of England is involved in creating a degree of money expansion in order that the crucial functioning parts of our economy have access to resources which alone will get us through the present recession as rapidly as possible. The result of our emergence from that will be that, in the fullness of time, the Bank of England will be able to reap the rewards of the money that it has transferred.

Secondary information