HC Deb 03 February 1975 vol 885 cc370-1W
Mr. Dodsworth

asked 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.

Mr. Dell

The 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.

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