THE currency crisis of 1992-1993 cost the Department of Agriculture £66 million in foreign exchange losses, according to a new report from the Comptroller and Auditor General.

The value for money report on bridging finance in relation to EU agricultural funds showed between 1983 and 1994 £436 million was recovered from the EU while interest charges amounted to £363 million.

However, borrowing in foreign currency during that period exposed the Department to non recoverable losses of £89 million - £66 million due to the currency crisis. This resulted in a shortfall of £16 million.

But the report noted that during the period foreign borrowing was still more economic than domestic. If the funds had been borrowed on the Irish market it would have resulted in a shortfall of £73 million.

The C&AG report said while the policy of borrowing in low interest foreign currency "was reasonable, it could be argued that some portion should have been denominated in Irish pounds as all of the Department's transactions are exclusively in that currency".