§ 42. Mr. Wingfield Digbyasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the total of Government expenditure abroad in 1952 and 1968, respectively; and why it is added to the private invisibles figure, in view of the fact that this may mislead.
§ Mr. DiamondGross Government expenditure on services and transfers was £226 million and £504 million respectively in these two years. Interest payments for 1952 were not published but 217W those for 1968 will appear in the Pink Book in September. I do not accept the premise in the second part of the question; this expenditure is grouped with the corresponding private expenditure in order to show the total amount the United Kingdom spent overseas in this way.