§ Mr. Sillarsasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, of the total private investment funds available during each year of the past decade, what proportion has been invested within the United Kingdom; and what has been the proportion invested in each major foreign area.
§ Mr. Robert SheldonThe funds made available by the private sector's saving are applied to the acquisition of financial510W claims on other sectors—for example, national savings—as well as being invested in fixed assets, but I assume that my hon. Friend is referring to funds applied to investment in fixed assets. There is no necessary connection between direct investment abroad and investment in fixed assets in this country. Generally overseas direct investment is financed not out of domestic saving but through overseas borrowing and locally earned profits. Figures of private domestic fixed investment in the last decade are in "National Income and Expenditure, 1963–73", Table 52, and of overseas direct investment by the United Kingdom, with geographical analysis, in Table 26 of "United Kingdom Balance of Payments, 1963–73". Figures of overseas direct investment financed by unremitted profits of overseas subsidiaries, and of the overseas borrowing applied to finance direct and other investment overseas, are set out in Table 25 of "United Kingdom Balance of Payments, 1963–73".