§ 118. Sir T. Beamishasked the Secretary of State for Defence what was the amount by which payments for United States defence equipment and agreed cancellation charges fell short of the full cost of the equipment during the calendar years 1965 to 1968 and for the first 10 months of 1969; and what has been the effect of this shortfall on the balance of payments during the same periods.
§ Mr. John MorrisExpenditure on the equipment fell short of costs (i.e. amounts due to be paid to manufacturers) whenever these costs were met by borrowing from the United States under published agreements with Eximbank. The differences between costs and expenditure in the periods in question were as follows:
£ million 1965 … … … … Nil 1966 … … … … 51 1967 … … … … 71 1968 … … … … 64 1969* … … … … 15 * First 10 months only. These amounts are also the amounts by which the balance of payments benefited in the particular periods.