§ 114. Mr. Osborneasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of the value of our pre-war food imports was paid for by interest received on our then foreign investments; what is today's cost of the same volume of imports; and how much interest we are paying today on our foreign debts.
20W
§ Mr. P. ThorneycroftIn 1938 we received about £250 million gross in property income from abroad. This was equivalent to about 60 per cent. of c.i.f. food and drink imports in that year, which cost about £400 million. At postwar prices this would have cost about four times as much. While our gross property income rather more than doubled, averaging £550 million in the five years 1951–55, payments to foreign countries on this account rose from £60 million in 1938 to £390 million in 1951–55.