§ Sir C. Osborneasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer in view of the fact that the current balance of payments after 121W allowing for invisible exports changed from a £15 million surplus in 1966 to a £404 million deficit in 1967, and shows a deficit of over £300 million for the first half of 1968, why he has not taken appropriate steps to put this right; if he is aware that the present trend will lead to a deficit of £700 million for 1968; and what action he will take to prevent this.
§ Mr. Roy JenkinsI have nothing to add to the Answers I gave on 15th October to Questions about the balance of payments, save to remind the hon. Gentleman of the statement made by my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade on 1st November.
§ Sir C. Osborneasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer in view of the fact that the visible balance of payments showed a deficit of £537 million in 1964, £272 million in 1965, £136 million in 1966, and £637 million in 1967, what were the basic causes of the increase last year; and what is his estimate of the deficit for 1968.
§ Mr. Roy JenkinsThe reasons underlying the worsening of the visible balance in 1967 were set out in the article on the United Kingdom balance of payments for 1967 contained in "Economic Trends" of March, 1968. (That article contained estimates for the visible balance which have since been slightly revised, but this revision does not affect the explanation).
No estimate for the visible balance for the whole of 1968 can be made at this stage: a provisional estimate for the visible trade balance in the first nine months was published in the Board of Trade Press Release of October 15th, and an estimate of the visible balance (together with the rest of the balance of payments) for the first six months was published in "Economic Trends" of September, 1968.