Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his department has assessed the implications for UK reserve management of foreign sovereign assets having been frozen or otherwise restricted as a consequence of international sanctions since 2022.

The Government does not comment on market movements. The UK’s official reserves are held in the Exchange Equalisation Account (EEA) and managed to ensure that the policy objectives set out in the EEA Act 1979 can be met at all times.

HM Treasury and the Bank of England agree the EEA’s strategic asset allocation annually. In doing so, the liquidity, credit and market risk of the reserves is managed in line with the EEA’s investment principles: readiness, risk tolerance and, subject to these, optimising risk-adjusted return. Reserve composition decisions reflect these principles.

Information on the size and composition of the reserves is published monthly.