§ Mr. Lewisasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give details in the OFFICIAL REPORT of the change in the cost of our imports and exports during the past two years; and to what extent there has been an improvement in our balance of payments due to lower import costs and higher payments for our exports.
Mr. AmoryThe latest balance of payments estimates, presented in Cmnd. 540, are for the period up to June, 1958. Import prices (c.i.f.) were 10 per cent. lower in the first half of 1958 than in the first half of 1957. There was no change in export prices between these two half years.
In the first half of 1958 the balance of visible trade showed a surplus of £137 million in place of the usual deficit. This improvement was due to the reduced import prices. There are no estimates of volumes of imports and exports as recorded in the balance of payments, but volume figures based on Trade and Navigation Accounts show that, compared with the first half of 1957, imports were little changed while exports fell slightly.