§ Mr. Lawrenceasked the Secretary of State for Trade what estimates his Department has made of the financial value to Great Britain's balance of payments of trade with African countries south of the Sahara, distinguishing between (a) South Africa and (b) the remaining countries.
§ Mr. DeakinsEstimates of the United Kingdom's visible balance of trade, on a balance of payments basis, are compiled only for broad area groups. Africa, south of the Sahara, is not separately identified.
On the basis of available information, the "crude" balance of trade with South Africa in 1975—i.e., the difference between exports valued fob and imports valued cif—was in surplus by £145 mil- 240W lion; with the rest of the countries south of the Sahara, there was a "crude" trade surplus of £98 million. The crude balance of trade is not necessarily a good measure of our trading position because of, inter alia, differences in valuation.