Savings boost

TOTAL gross sales of all National Savings products in January amounted to pounds 522m. After repayments of pounds 419m, net receipts totalled pounds 103m.

Including accrued interest of pounds 116m, the contribution to government funding in January came to pounds 219m. The highest contributions came from index- linked Savings Certificates at pounds 74m, fixed-interest Savings Certificates at pounds 61m and the Investment Account at pounds 38m.

The total contribution to funding so far this financial year is almost pounds 4bn, of which pounds 1.5bn is accrued interest. The total amount invested in National Savings at the end of January was pounds 43.8bn.