HC Deb 09 July 1959 vol 608 c1540
15. Mr. P. Noel-Baker

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what total sum in service charges and in annual interest Her Majesty's Government will pay to the International Monetary Fund for the drawing of 561 million dollars, and the standby arrangement for 739 million dollars made by Her Majesty's Government in December, 1956.

The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Mr. F. J. Erroll)

On the drawing it is estimated that a total of rather less than £7 million will be paid. On the standby arrangement, a service charge of £660,000 has been paid for each of the three years of the arrangement.

Mr. Noel-Baker

Am I right in concluding that that would be a total of about £10 million as an additional sum to be added to the other costs of the Suez war?

Mr. Erroll

The arithmetic of the first part of the right hon. Gentleman's supplementary question seems to be approximately correct. As for the second part of his supplementary question, I cannot prevent him from drawing deductions, true or false, from my purely factual Answer.