§ Mr. Russellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT a table showing the United Kingdom balance of payments on current account for the years 1959, 1960, and 1961 with each of the following areas, namely, the rest of the sterling area, the dollar area, other western hemisphere countries, the European Economic Community, the rest of the European Free Trade Association, and other non-sterling area countries.
§ Mr. BarberEstimates of the balance of payments with the rest of the sterling area are shown in Table 2 of the recently published Balance of Payments White Paper.
I regret that estimates of certain invisible transactions with individual parts of the non-sterling area are not sufficiently reliable to permit estimates of the balances on current account to be published.
I am circulating in the OFFICIAL REPORT estimates of visible trade, on a balance of payments basis, between the United Kingdom and those individual areas for which figures are readily available. These approximate to the areas for which my hon. Friend is asking.
51W
UNITED KINGDOM BALANCE OF PAYMENTS VISIBLE TRADE £ million — 1959 1960 1961 REST OF STERLING AREA Imports 1,351 1,407 1,396 Exports and re-exports 1,364 1,446 1,411 Visible Balance + 13 + 39 + 15 WESTERN EUROPE Imports 1,009 1,195 1,214 Exports and re-exports 1,006 1,113 1,283 Visible Balance -3 -82 + 69 of which European Economic Community* Imports … 600 614 Exports and re-exports … 592 688 Visible Balance … -8 + 74 European Free Trade Area* Imports … 415 417 Exports and re-exports … 394 441 Visible Balance … -21 +24 NORTH AMERICA Imports 611 843 743 Exports and re-exports 618 571 548 Visible Balance + 7 -272 -195 LATIN AMERICA Imports 272 268 239 Exports and re-exports 159 172 168 Visible Balance -113 -96 -171 OTHER NON-STERLING AREA COUNTRIES Imports 368 385 406 Exports and re-exports 360 405 453 Visible Balance —8 + 20 + 47 TOTAL ALL AREAS Imports 3,611 4,098 3,998 Exports and re-exports 3,507 3,707 3,863 Visible Balance -104 -391 -135 * Figures for these areas are not available before I960.