§ Mr. Knoxasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the present total of the National Debt; and, from information available from international sources, how this compares on a per capita basis with the equivalent figures for the other member countries of the European Economic Community.
§ Mr. NottThe amount of the United Kingdom National Debt outstanding at 31st March 1973 was some £37,000 million—provisional—equivalent to £670 per head. This total is in nominal terms and includes substantial United Kingdom official holdings. The table below gives the sterling equivalents per head for the original six EEC countries at the end of March 1972, calculated at the market exchange rates at that date.
National debt per head £ Belgium … … … … 610 France … … … … 140 Germany … … … … 180 Italy … … … … 140 Netherlands … … … … 320 Great caution is needed in interpreting these figures as their comparability with that for the United Kingdom is affected by definitional differences and by differences in the pattern of financing of local authorities and public trading enterprises. The figures for the six countries are as published in "EEC General Statistics"; comparable figures for the Irish Republic and Denmark are not available.