§ Mr. Dodsworthasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what was the average rate of interest paid on British overseas borrowing for each of the last 12 months;
(2) if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the total amount of British overseas borrowing for each of the last 12 months, indicating the total borrowed from the International Monetary Fund and from other sources, respectively.
371W
§ Mr. DellThe only figures available on a monthly basis are for foreign currency borrowing by the public sector under the exchange cover scheme and drawings on the facility for Her Majesty's Government to borrow $2–5 billion on the Eurodollar market. For 1974 these were as follows:
$ million Public sector borrowing Drawings on HMG loan 1974— January 12 — February 20 — March 682 — April 749 — May 124 — June 165 — July 10 — August 125 — September 309 — October 10 500 November 400 750 December — 250 2,606 1,500 Most of this borrowing is on a floating basis, with interest rates related to those
£ million Official long-term capital Net transactions with IMF Net transactions with other monetary authorities Public sector borrowing overseas 1968 … … … … +16 +506 +709 — 1969 … … … … -99 -30 -669 +21 1970 … … … … -204 -134 -1,161 -2 1971 … … … … -273 -554 -1,263 +65 1972 … … … … -255 -415 +864 — 1973 … … … … -252 — — +901 1974 (to end-September) … -109 — — +704 Because of the very large variety of transactions involved it is not possible to isolate the annual interest payments on each borrowing.
Details of other capital and investment flows into the United Kingdom appear on a quarterly basis in "Economic Trends", which is published by the Central Statistical Office. The latest information, which covers the third quarter of 1974, is included in the December issue. There were no drawings on the IMF General Account during 1974.