§ Mr. Proctorasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will set out in the Official Report the level of public expenditure as a proportion of gross domestic product in each country in the European Community for each of the last five years.
§ Mr. Peter Rees[pursuant to his reply, 18 November 1983, c. 596]: International comparisons of public expenditure are not available. Total Government outlays* as a percentage of GDP for 1977–1981 are as follows:
1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 Germany 48.1 47.8 47.7 48.3 49.3 France 44.2 45.2 45.5 46.4 48.9 United Kingdom 44.1 43.6 43.4 45.6 47.3 Italy 42.5 46.1 45.2 46.0 50.8 Belgium 46.6 47.9 49.5 51.6 56.1 Denmark 48.9 50.6 53.2 56.3 59.0 Greece† 29.0 29.9 29.7 30.4 36.0 Ireland 45.5 46.6 49.8 54.4 n.a. Luxembourg 52.7 51.8 52.8 60.1 n.a. Netherlands 54.6 55.9 58.0 59.7 61.5 * Current expenditure, capital formation and net capital transfers. † Current expenditure only. Source: OECD Economic Outlook July 1983.
Table R8: Total Outlays of Government as a percentage of GDP.