§ Mr. Sheldonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the cost of overseas aid for the latest convenient year; and what is the estimate for the foreign exchange cost.
§ Mr. GreenwoodI have been asked to reply.
In 1965, total British official aid (gross) was £195.7 million. It is virtually impossible to estimate the foreign-exchange cost of the programme as a whole, since this would involve attempting to quantify the many repercussions which could be expected if the programme were eliminated. It is estimated, however, that as much as two-thirds of any marginal change in the programme would take the form of British goods and services, representing costs in resources rather than in foreign exchange. In 1965 there may have been an additional burden on the balance of payments because some of our industries supplying capital goods for the programme were working at full capacity. This factor is not thought to have brought the balance-of-payments cost of any marginal change to as much as 50 per cent.; we believe, however, that it is no longer operating.