HC Deb 31 October 1946 vol 428 c128W
Sir W. Smithers

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the average worth of imported goods per year, per head of the population, for 1910, 1938 and at the latest convenient date; and what proportion of that was paid for by invisible exports.

Mr. Dalton

The average c.i.f. value of recorded imports per head of the population in the years 1910, 1938 and 1945 was:

1910 1938 1945
£ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d.
15 2 0* 19 8 0 22 10 0†

According to estimates published in the Board of Trade Journal, the net invisible overseas income of the United Kingdom in 1938 amounted to 36 per cent. of the c.i.f. value of recorded imports in that year. Corresponding figures for 1910 and 1945 are not available.

* Including the whole of Ireland.

† Excluding munitions