51. Mr. Gresham Cookeasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will take steps to provide easier credit for medium-sized companies who require increasing finance in view of the annual rise in exports of non-capital goods;
(2) whether he will take steps to provide easier credit for those companies whose foreign customers require four to six months' credit and whose costs are consequently inflated by 4 per cent. to 5 per cent. as a result of the recent increase in Bank Rate.
§ Mr. Harold LeverNo. The guidance on lending provided to the banks makes it clear that finance for exports should be given the highest priority. Medium and longer-term export credit lending for exports guaranteed by the E.C.G.D., which is available at 5½ per cent., is exempt from the ceiling. The rate of interest on this lending does not fluctuate with Bank Rate. Shorter-term guaranteed export credit is available at Bank Rate. Interest costs are not a very significant element in the price of exports sold on shorter-term credit and for the bulk of such credit the recent increase in Bank Rate will not increase prices of these exports by more than a small fraction of a percentage point.