§ Mr. Gouldasked the Prime Minister if she will publish in the Official Report a table showing the level of interest rates each quarter in the United Kingdom, the United States of America and West Germany for each quarter since May 1979 together with (a) the public sector borrowing requirement as a percentage of gross domestic product and (b) the change in the balance of payments.
§ The Prime MinisterThe following table gives three-month interest rates as requested.
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Nominal short-term interest rates (per cent. per annum) United Kingdom United States of America West Germany 1979 Second quarter 12.2 10.1 6.0 Third quarter 14.1 10.9 7.3 Fourth quarter 15.7 13.7 9.3 1980 First quarter 17.7 15.2 9.2 Second quarter 17.2 11.5 10.2 Third quarter 16.1 10.0 9.2 Fourth quarter 15.6 15.8 9.5 1981 First quarter 13.3 15.8 11.4 Second quarter 12.5 16.8 13.1 Third quarter 14.2 17.3 12.8 Fourth quarter 15.7 13.2 11.2 1982
United Kingdom United States of America West Germany First quarter 14.4 14.3 10.2 Second quarter 13.4 14.1 9.2 Third quarter 11.5 11.5 8.9 Fourth quarter 9.9 9.1 7.2 1983 First quarter 11.1 8.5 5.7 Second quarter 10.2 8.8 5.4 Third quarter 9.8 9.6 5.7 Fourth quarter 9.4 9.4 6.3 Three-month inter-bank rates are used for the United Kingdom and West Germany while for the United States comparable rates are those on three-month certificates of deposit.
- (a) Quarterly figures for the United Kingdom PSBR are published regularly in the CSO's Financial Statistics table 2.5 while quarterly GDP data are provided in Economic Trends, table 6. There are no published estimates for the borrowing requirement of the public sector in the United States of America and Germany which are comparable to the United Kingdom's definition.
- (b) Quarterly current account data for the United Kingdom are published in Economic Trends, table 48, while for the United States of America and Germany figures are available in the OECD's monthly Main Economic Indicators.