§ The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER (Mr. Chamberlain)Resuming what I have said, the position for 1919–20 would thus be as follows:—
Expenditure, £1,434,910,000.
Revenue, £1,159,650,000.
Deficit, £275,260,000.
That is a lesser deficit, I think, than most people have anticipated. We are left, therefore, with a deficit of £275,000,000 for the current year, or, as I would prefer to call it, £300,000,000, in order to allow for contingencies and further demands, some of which I can already see maturing. That, therefore, is, I hope, the maximum figure which, on balance, we shall need to have borrowed at the end of the year. It may be reduced by any sums which we receive, if we receive such in the course of the year, on account of repayment of capital or payment of interest by our Allies on their loans or in the shape of indemnities from the enemy countries, and, of course, it would be reduced to the extent of any increase of new taxation in the current year.