HC Deb 22 October 1973 vol 861 cc380-3W
Mr. Meacher

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what has been, in the case of the United Kingdom, United States of America, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Sweden, the level of Government expenditure abroad in both sterling money terms at the appropriate exchange rate and as a percentage of gross national product for each year since 1945; and what has been the net balance of payments surplus or deficit for each of these years in each of these countries.

Mr. Nott

Data for overseas countries, which are derived from information published by OECD and IMF, are available

TABLE A
GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE ABROAD
£ million
Year UK USA France* Germany Italy Japan Sweden†
1952 … … 217 1,590 25 10 22 2 4
1953 … … 218 1,756 24 31 27 3 2
1954 … … 231 1,687 25 59 18 4 2
1955 … … 244 1,845 29 81 20 13 2
1956 … … 264 1,838 34 101 24 13 3
1957 … … 253 1,899 34 152 24 32 3
1958 … … 281 1,991 67 186 25 93 3
1959 … … 270 1,888 97 291 32 32 3
1960 … … 327 1,883 105 289 40 36 3
1961 … … 378 1,955 118 361 38 44 6
1962 … … 399 2,022 117 399 41 40 10
1963 … … 422 2,002 89 367 47 40 13
1964 … … 477 1,997 100 344 56 41 17
1965 … … 493 2,028 109 398 70 51 19
1966 … … 512 2,388 124 373 78 62 24
1967 … … 499 2,658 407 429 101 79 25
1968 … … 510 3,087 448 648 161 87 35
1969 … … 515 3,177 448 750 155 88 50
1970 … … 537 3,244 453 788 265 108 48
* Comparability is affected by changes in presentation in 1963 and in 1967.
† Comparability is affected by changes in presentation in 1962 and 1966.

TABLE B
GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE ABROAD EXPRESSED AS PERCENTAGE OF GNP
Percentages
Year UK USA France Germany Italy Japan Sweden
1952 … … 1.5 1.3 0.2 0.1 0.3 .. 0.1
1953 … … 1.4 1.3 0.2 0.3 0.4 .. 0.1
1954 … … 1.4 1.3 0.2 0.4 0.2 0.1 0.1
1955 … … 1.4 1.3 0.2 0.5 0.2 0.2 0.1
1956 … … 1.4 1.2 0.2 0.6 0.3 0.1 0.1
1957 … … 1.3 1.2 0.2 0.8 0.2 0.3 0.1
1958 … … 1.4 1.2 0.3 0.9 0.2 0.8 0.1
1959 … … 1.3 1.1 0.5 1.4 0.3 0.3 0.1
1960 … … 1.4 1.0 0.5 1.1 0.3 0.2 0.1
1961 … … 1.5 1.0 0.5 1.2 0.3 0.2 0.1
1962 … … 1.6 1.0 0.4 1.2 0.3 0.2 0.2
1963 … … 1.5 0.9 0.3 1.1 0.2 0.2 0.2
1964 … … 1.6 0.9 0.3 0.9 0.3 0.1 0.3
1965 … … 1.6 0.8 0.3 1.0 0.3 0.2 0.3
1966 … … 1.5 0.9 0.3 0.9 0.3 0.2 0.3
1967 … … 1.4 0.9 1.0 1.0 0.4 0.2 0.3
1968 … … 1.4 0.8 0.9 1.2 0.5 0.1 0.4
1969 … … 1.3 0.8 0.8 1.2 0.4 0.1 0.5
1970 … … 1.2 0.8 0.7 1.0 0.7 0.1 0.4
.. = less than 0.1.

for the years 1952 to 1970 only. The following tables give the information requested for these years. "Government expenditure abroad" is defined as the total of the debit entries under the headings "services" and "transfers". "Net balance of payments surplus or deficit" is taken as the balance of debit and credit entries under the headings "goods", "services" and "transfers", which broadly corresponds to the "current balance". Gross national product is at current market prices. Figures for overseas countries have been converted to sterling at the appropriate IMF parity rates.

Following are the tables:

TABLE C
NET BALANCE OF PAYMENTS SURPLUS (+)/DEFICIT (-)
£ million
Year UK USA France Germany Italy Japan Sweden
1952 … … +163 +226 -123 +249 -126 +80 +13
1953 … … +145 -484 +42 +364 -76 -73 +24
1954 … … +117 +42 +247 +320 -21 -18 -11
1955 … … -155 +125 +338 +185 -26 +80 -29
1956 … … +208 +842 -263 +393 -33 -12 -11
1957 … … +233 +1,692 -47 +518 +12 -221 -9
1958 … … +344 +235 -62 +533 +201 +94 -20
1959 … … +152 -512 +254 +367 +270 +129 -2
1960 … … -255 +1,008 +205 +401 +113 +51 -30
1961 … … +6 +1,389 +358 +261 +181 -351 +17
1962 … … +122 +1,190 +284 -191 +100 -17 +4
1963 … … +124 +1,526 +154 +81 -255 -278 +3
1964 … … -382 +2,403 -36 +14 +224 -171 +4
1965 … … -49 +1,874 +272 -582 +790 +332 -91
1966 … … +84 +1,361 +61 +6 +760 +448 -57
1967 … … -316 +1,199 +57 +858 +581 -69 -16
1968 … … -284 +542 -454 +1,136 +1,095 +437 -45
1969 … … +445 +531 -758 +671 +975 +883 -87
1970 … … +692 +1,196 -63 +305 +318 +821 -127