§ Mr. Nicholas Edwardsasked the Secretary of State for Trade if he will publish a table showing the United Kingdom balance of trade with Japan for each year since 1966, distinguishing between visible and invisible items.
§ Mr. DeakinsVisible trade figures on a balance of payments basis are not available for trade with individual countries. Figures on an overseas trade statistics basis of exports fob and imports cif for trade with Japan for the years 1966–1974 are published in the Annual Abstract of Statistics, 1975; and for 1975 in the December 1975 volume of the monthlyOverseas Trade Statistics. The difference between these figures—the crude balance—is not a good measure of the balance of trade in goods because, inter alia, of differences in valuation. Estimates of invisible transactions with individual countries are not generally compiled. Exceptionally, broad estimates of the United Kingdom invisible transactions with Japan were given by my right hon. Friend the Paymaster-General in his reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Redcar (Mr. Tinn) on 2nd December last. These estimates, which include some elements of the crude balance such as freight and insurance, indicated a United Kingdom surplus of some £200 million in 1974.