§ LORD ALDINGTONasked Her Majesty's Government:
In what countries the £6,000 millions of overseas direct investment mentioned by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his Budget Statement is invested, how much in each country, and which countries they regard as developing countries.
§ LORD SHEPHERDThe figure of £6,000 million, given by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Budget Statement, is the estimated book value of the assets of all forms of United Kingdom direct investment abroad at the end of 1964. The distribution by country of that part of these assets representing the investments of the oil, insurance and banking industries is not available. Revised estimates of the book value at the end of 1962 of all other direct investment abroad, by area and country, were published in theBoard of Trade Journal of August 7, 1964, a copy of which is in the Library. The total value of these assets at that time was estimated at £3,600 million and the assets of other direct investments, including oil, were put at something under £1,500 million making the total net asset value of all U.K. direct investments overseas some £5,100 million at the end of 1962, com 608WA pared with about £6,000 million at the end of 1964.
The definition of less-developed countries is that used by the Development Assistance Committee of the O.E.C.D., viz: Greece, Spain, Turkey and all countries not members of the O.E.C.D. except Australia, Finland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the Sino-Soviet Area.