§ So, taking both revenue and expenditure together, we have on the conventional basis an above-the-line surplus for the year of £88 million, compared with a surplus which I estimated in the Budget of £510 million. Of the shortfall of £422 million, a little under half represents higher expenditure and rather over half a lower yield from taxation. The shortfall on the revenue side is, as I have explained, largely a result of the disinflationary developments of the past year. The increase in expenditure did not have the inflationary consequences it might have had if our policy of eliminating the pressure of excess demand had not been so successful in other fields.
§ I now turn to the position below-the-line. Rather heavier drawings by the Coal Board and the local authorities have been offset to some extent by a reduction in the demands of the Cotton Commission; and the total shortfall of receipts against payments, which I originally estimated at £506 million, has turned out only slightly higher, at £524 million.
§ Let me now look at the position of the National Debt. In addition to financing the net deficit on the Budget as a whole, the Debt had to accommodate the issue of a further £58 million of Coal Compensation Stock. But it benefited from, among other things, the repayment in April, 1952, of £300 million of capital from the increased sterling holdings of the Exchange Equalisation Account. This sterling holding had risen to an excessive figure as the result of the fall in the gold and dollar reserves in the previous year; and I should warn the Committee that, with the recent rise in the reserves, there may have to be a movement the other way. In all the National Debt rose by £160 million over the year.
§ The main changes in the composition of the Debt in the course of the year have been as follows. The Floating Debt was increased in the year by about £103 million. We took advantage of favourable markets to carry out a series of successful operations. The result is that over the year we have been able not only to provide for the repayment of maturing debt, but also to replace a certain amount of the Floating Debt with longer-term securities. We paid off on maturity £105 million of Serial Funding Stock, and £150 million of National War Bonds, and made 41 new issues of £200 million of 1¾ per cent. Serial Funding Stocks, 1953 and 1954, £115 million of 3 per cent. Serial Funding Stock, 1955, and £100 million of 3 per cent. Exchequer Stock, 1960. Repayments of small savings exceeded receipts by £36 million and encashment of Tax Reserve Certificates exceeded purchases by £54 million.