HC Deb 01 November 1989 vol 159 cc215-6W
75. Mr. Clelland

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects British manufacturing trade to be in balance.

89. Mr. Cox

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects British manufacturing trade to be in balance.

90. Mr. Win Griffiths

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects British manufacturing trade to be in balance.

95. Mr. Sean Hughes

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects British manufacturing trade to be in balance.

Mr. Norman Lamont

The deficit on manufacturing trade reflects the surge in investment and the fall in personal saving in recent years. Tighter monetary policy is already slowing the growth in demand. As new capacity comes on stream, and domestic demand slows further, the deficit will narrow.

76. Mr. Andrew Smith

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his latest estimate of the total United Kingdom trade deficit for the current year.

82. Mr. Macdonald

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his latest estimate of the total United Kingdom trade deficit for the current year.

86. Mr. Wallace

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his latest estimate of the deficit in manufactured trade for 1989–90.

Mr. Norman Lamont

A new forecast will be published at the time of the Autumn Statement.

79. Mr. Parry

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what further policies he has to deal with the trade deficit.

92. Mr. Martlew

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what further policies he has to deal with the trade deficit.

93. Mr. Martyn Jones

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what further policies he has to deal with the trade deficit.

Mr. Norman Lamont

No further policies are necessary. The current account deficit will gradually narrow as the Government's tight monetary policy continues to slow domestic demand.

80. Mr. Canavan

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the latest balance of trade in manufactured goods.

Mr. Norman Lamont

The information was published on 24 October in table 12 of the monthly press notice on the current account of the balance of payments, a copy of which is available in the Library.

85. Mr. Wareing

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he now expects the balance of trade to be in surplus.

Mr. Norman Lamont

Tighter monetary policy is already slowing the growth in demand. As domestic demand continues to slow down, and new capacity comes on stream, the deficit on visible trade will gradually narrow.

87. Mr. Wilson

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with which European Community countries Britain is running a trade deficit.

Mr. Norman Lamont

The United Kingdom's balance of trade in the first nine months of 1989 was in deficit with the following European Community member states:

  1. Belgium/Luxembourg
  2. Denmark
  3. Federal Republic of Germany
  4. France
  5. Italy
  6. Netherlands

94. Mr. Orme

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what further policies he has to deal with the trade deficit.

Mr. Major

No further policies are necessary. The current account deficit will gradually narrow as the Government's tight monetary policy continues to slow domestic demand.

Mr. Batiste

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the current balance of trade with(a) Australia and (b) New Zealand.

Mr. Norman Lamont

In the first nine months of 1989 the United Kingdom's crude balance of trade1 showed a surplus of £550 million with Australia and a deficit of £49 million with New Zealand.

These figures are only available on an overseas trade statistics basis which tends to overstate deficits and understate surpluses.

1 Exports free on board (fob) less imports carriage, insurance and freight (cif).