§ Mr. James Johnsonasked the Minister of Overseas Development what is the amount of overseas aid given in the years 1965 and 1966; and what is the percentage of Great Britain's gross national product thus given, compared with the percentage for France, Belgium. Germany, Italy and the United States of America, respectively.
§ Mr. OramIn 1965 gross official economic aid from the United Kingdom to developing countries was £196 million. The figure for 1966 is not yet available. In terms of the recommendations of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development of 1964 percentages of national income are normally expressed in respect of net official flows plus net private flows. These figures are given in the first column of the table below. Percentages of national income relating to official flows of financial resources are only available for other countries net of capital repayments. These figures are shown in the second column of the table. I should explain that the usual meaning of national income is net national product at factor cost. Comparable figures for other countries are only available on this basis. Calculations based on gross national product would, however, have little effect on the relative position of countries to each other.
Col. I Col. II per cent. per cent. France … … 1.88 1.08 Belgium … … 1.81 0.90 United Kingdom 114 0.61 United States … … 0.98 0.67 West Germany … … 0.83 0.50 Italy … … 0.65 0.22