§ Mr. LawsonTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will provide a table showing, for each calendar year from 1970 to 1990 inclusive,(a) the non-oil current account surplus or deficit, (b) non-oil money GDP, (c) (a) above as a percentage of (b) above;
(2) if he will publish a table showing, for each year from 1970 to 1990 inclusive, plus the Budget forecast for 1991, the non-oil current account surplus or deficit expressed as a percentage of non-oil GDP.
§ Mr. Norman Lamont[holding answer 15 April 1991]: The annual values for the years 1970 to 1990 of the current account balance less the balance of trade in oil are shown in the table, together with these current balance values expressed as a percentage of non-North sea gross domestic product. Non-North sea GDP is not published as a separate series. There is no standard definition of the non-oil current balance; the measure shown here does not take account of the full impact of the oil industry, nor would it be feasible to do so.