§ In concluding this section of my speech, I must add a word about external financing. I have had prepared for the Financial Statement and Budget Report a table which rearranges the published figures in the balance of payments to illustrate what we have borrowed and why over the last five years. We need to repay these debts by earning overseas surpluses, aided by the reflux of funds which our improving balance of payments can bring. The figures are large. They are a measure of the transformation necessary in our economy. But we are making progress. In each of the first three months of this year we made substantial debt repayments accompanied by small additions to our reserves. Provided that we maintain this progress there is nothing insuperable in the problem of our debts. Other countries have achieved greater turnrounds in their balance of payments and have done so faster than we have so far managed.
§ Meanwhile we shall be discussing as appropriate with our creditors, including the International Monetary Fund, the phasing of our total debt.