Further details about M0 data

M0 was the Bank's main narrow money measure.

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Overview

When the Bank introduced Money Market Reform in May 2006, the Bank ceased publication of M0 and instead began publishing series for Reserve Balances at the Bank of England to accompany Notes and Coin in circulation. For more information see the Notes and Coin and Reserves Balances. 

In layman's terms, narrow money is approximately equal to cash in circulation. It is a measure of money which excludes several less liquid forms of asset (such as deposits at commercial banks), which do nonetheless contribute to broader money aggregates such as M4.

Availability

Data on the Statistical Interactive Database are available as monthly averages from June 1969 and weekly figures from October 1990.  The data are available not seasonally adjusted and seasonally adjusted. There is also a series which is adjusted for special non-seasonal factors, such as the £1 note write-off, the funding of the winter fuel payments, the turn of the millennium, the fuel dispute of 2000, and the threatened strike action affecting note distributors in 2003. 
 
M0 data are no longer produced. The last weekly observation for the M0 series was 17th May 2006, and the last monthly observation was April 2006. For information about future releases of narrow money (Notes and Coin and Reserve Balances) data, see the Statistics page.

Sources

The level of notes in circulation and information about bankers' deposits were taken from the Bank of England's balance sheet. Coin data were provided by the Royal Mint, and information about the notes set aside by Scottish and Northern Irish note-issuing banks was supplied by the banks in question a week in arrears.

Definitions

M0 comprised sterling notes and coin in circulation outside the Bank of England (including those held in banks' and building societies' tills), and banks’ operational deposits with the Bank of England.
 
M0 data differ from M4 and other balance sheet statistics because they were compiled as a monthly average of weekly observations. They also included all notes and coin in circulation, whereas M4 only includes those held by the non-bank non-building society private sector. 

Valuation and breaks

Over time there were minor changes in the way the monthly average was calculated. When introduced, the series was calculated over banking months, but later this was changed to be over calendar months. However the observations currently on the Statistical Interactive Database are all computed on a comparable basis, since the different monthly series could be derived from the same raw data. 

Before October 1990, the adjustment for Scottish and Northern Irish banks' issues was based on the third Wednesday's figure for each month, whereas since then the adjustment has been calculated on a weekly basis.

Further information

Historical documents may be obtained from the National Archives or directly on request to the Bank:
Publication of narrow money data: the implications of money market reform, Janssen, N and Andrews, P (2005), Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, Autumn. 
Banking and monetary statistics: a change in reporting dates Bank of England (1986), Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, December (pages 519-27).
Changes to monetary aggregates and the analysis of bank lending Bank of England (1984), Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, March (page 78).

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This page was last updated 31 January 2023