§ Mrs. BeckettTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the disparity between his forecast for the balance of payments current account deficits in 1997 and the average of the forecasts made by the Panel of Independent Forecasters for 1997. [40728]
§ Mrs. Angela KnightThe latest Treasury forecast for the current account deficit in 1997 is £1½ billion, shown in the table 1.4 of the "Summer Economic Forecast". This lies within the range of forecasts provided by members of the Panel of Independent Forecasters, detailed in table 1A.1 of the same publication.