§ Mr. Cantasked the Secretary of State for Trade whether, when publishing balance of payments figures, he will abandon the practice of separating the balance into the oil and non-oil deficit and follow the OECD procedure of estimating increases in net oil expenditure compared with 1973.
§ Mr. DeakinsNo. The separation adopted in the monthly trade Press notice is a useful way of distinguishing the current net costs of oil and non-oil goods. In particular, it allows current net expenditure on oil to be compared with expenditure in 1973.