§ Dr. Reginald Bennettasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the current indebtedness in foreign currencies of, respectively, the United Kingdom public sector and the United Kingdom private sector, including facilities arranged by British multinational companies to support their offshore operations including North Sea oil development to United Kingdom banks and what is the extent of foreign currency facilities arranged but not yet utilised by, respectively, public sector and private sector borrowers.
§ Mr. DellThe latest figures available for the total foreign currency indebtedness of United Kingdom public and private sector bodies to United Kingdom banks, but excluding that of Her Majesty's Government, is given in Table 41 of the April edition of "Financial Statistics", published by the Central Statistical Office. In addition, the larger part of the $2.5 billion loan taken by Her Majesty's Government involves indebtedness to banks
£ million M1 M1 plus non-resident current accounts M3 M3 plus non-resident current and deposit accounts 1970 … … 9,635(9) n.a. 18,175(9) 34,970(17) 1971 … … 11,088(15) 11,373 20,541 (13) 40,836 (17) 1972 … … 12,657 (14) 12,972 (14) 26,245 (28) 54,238 (33) 1973 … … 13,303 (5) 13,689 (5) 33,430 (27) 75,098 (38) 1974 … … 14,739 (11) 15,189 (11) 37,633 (13) 88,756 (18) n.a.: Not available. (Figures giving the split between non-resident current accounts and deposit accounts are available only from 1971.) Figures for the first four months of 1975 are not available on a comparable basis. The amounts of non-resident foreign currency deposits are converted at the exchange rates ruling at the end of each year and so the changes between years are affected by changes in the exchange rate.