HC Deb 16 January 1984 vol 52 cc37-8W
Mr. Nellist

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Coventry, South-East on 21 December, if he will publish in the Official Report such information as he has about the amount of overseas investment in (a) shares and (b) factories since the abolition of exchange controls.

Mr. Kenneth Baker

Such information as is available is already published. Net transactions in all types of overseas securities since the abolition of exchange controls are published in supplementary table S2 in the October 1983 edition of "Financial Statistics". These figures include both portfolio and direct investment in subsidiaries and associate enterprises. Details of investment in ordinary shares and other overseas securities by financial institutions, other than those in the monetary sector, are

Index of output of the production industries: industries at lower levels in 1983* than in 1973
Industry SIC 80 Comparisons of years prior to 1973† with 1983 levels
Coal and coke Class 11–12 All higher than 1983 level
Mineral oil processing Class 14 1983 level lies between those in 1968 and 1969
Metals Class 21–22 All higher than 1983 level (figures available from 1968 only)
Other minerals and mineral products Class 23–24 1983 level is the same as that in 1966
Man-made fibres Class 26 1983 level is the same as that in 1965
Metal goods nes Class 31 All higher than 1983 level (figures available from 1968 only)
Mechanical Engineering Class 32 1983 level is the same as those in 1961, 1962 and 1963
Motor vehicles and parts Class 35 1983 level is the same as that in 1959
Other transport equipment Class 36 1983 level is the same as that in 1972, but levels in most years prior to 1973 are higher
Textiles Class 43 All higher than 1983 level
Clothing, footwear and leather Class 44–45 1983 level is the same as that in 1957, but levels in over half of the years prior to 1957 are higher
Paper, printing and publishing Class 47 1983 level lies between those in 1964 and 1965
All other manufacturing Class 46, 48–49 1983 level is the same as that in 1967
Notes:
* Average of January to October 1983, seasonally adjusted.
† Years from 1948 to 1972 (1968 to 1972 for classes 21–22 and 31).

Source: Central Statistical Office.

given in table S4 of the same publication, and summary estimates are also given in table 7.1 of "Financial Statistics".

No information is available on overseas investment in fixed assets such as factories. The available information on overseas direct investment, excluding oil, relates to the sums invested by a United Kingdom parent company in an overseas affiliate, which then decides how these funds are to be used, whether to repay borrowings, to increase debtors or on fixed assets. Table 1.4 of "Business Monitor" MA4 1981 shows direct investment in manufacturing industry according to these definitions.