The Bank of England still

The Bank of England still publishes a weekly return showing, amongst other things, the total value of notes and coins in circulation. It’s here. This week the figure is £50,007,649,295.But you’re right. It is partly a question of definition, with the definition of money changing over the years. In the past it used to be “can the banks create credit?”. Now it’s become “can the banks create money?” The answer is the same but the issue was less confusing when the claim was just about credit not money.Obviously banks can supply credit (even if not out of nothing), but they can’t create money unless this is defined as including bank loans (in which case they do so by definition). Money, in its original sense of coins and notes, can only be created by the government via the central bank. These days out of nothing.