§ Mr. Martenasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what has been the total of sterling loans to non-residents, corporate or otherwise, including foreign Governments, by British-based banks and finance houses, for which exchange control consent was given the years 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1976 to date; and what was the average rate of interest.
§ Mr. Robert SheldonI regret this information is not available. Permission has been given to authorised banks to make sterling loans to non-residents in certain circumstances without specific reference to the Bank of England, and614W there is no centralised record of the loans thereby made. However, I refer the hon. Member to Economic Trends, March 1976, page 91, where details of United Kingdom banks' export credit lending and other external sterling claims in 1970–75 are published. A copy has been placed in the Library.