§ Bearing in mind the strength of the external position, the House should know that I have decided to make a further reduction in the country's remaining debt to the International Monetary Fund. Fund borrowing is intended to be temporary, and it is right to repay it, and so to reconstitute our position in the Fund, when the state of our reserves makes this possible. The House will recall that in the Budget I announced repayments of short and medium-term debt of £778 million. That left a total of £683 million owing to the I.M.F., of which £266 million was in respect of the June, 1968, drawing and £417 million in respect of the 1969–70 drawings.
§ The £266 million has since been reduced to £256 million as a result of sterling drawings from the Fund by other 1037 countries. An arrangement had been made whereby repayments could have been spread over next year, if necessary, but I have decided that there is no need to delay the repayment until then, and the £256 million will, therefore, be repaid next month.
§ This will mean that we shall have reduced by £1,044 million the short and medium-term official debt which we inherited in June, 1970, leaving still to be repaid to the I.M.F. the remaining £417 million, incurred in 1969–70, and which begins to fall due in June next year.