Fortunately for Mr Brown, the healthy state of the public finances means that he does not have to rely upon such temporary gains to finance any tax cuts.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the ministry of finance insisted the capital control measures were temporary and were needed to "safeguard the stability of the system".
Every small business owner knows that the laws of finance will allow negative cash to be augmented with debt as a temporary means to an end, but not as a long-term way of life.