§ Mr. Hordernasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish details of the comparison between different countries that the borrowing requirement bears to their respective national incomes, to which he alluded in his recent speech at the Mansion House.
§ Mr. Joel BarnettInternational comparisons of public sector deficits are difficult because of differences in definition and coverage and because of statistical differences. Some measure of comparison can, however, be achieved by using the concept of the financial balance of the general Government sector used in the UN/OECD system of international accounts. Broadly, this is the balance of the receipts and expenditure of the 347W central Government, the social security system and local authorities. It differs from the general Government borrowing requirement to the extent that there is net lending to other sectors.
Official national figures on this basis are, of course, not yet available for the current year. The reference in my right hon. Friend's recent speech at the Mansion House was based upon estimates derived from the latest official forecast of the total public sector deficit in Germany—DM 75,000 million—the official forecast of the central Government deficit in Italy—L 7,172,000 million—tentatively adjusted for other components of the general Government sector and an independent published forecast of the United States Federal deficit for calendar 1975—$74,000 million—similarly adjusted. Relating these estimates to the most recent published OECD forecasts of GNP suggests that the general Government deficits of all three countries fall within a range of 5–8 per cent. of GNP. The general Government deficit of the United Kingdom is also expected to fall within this range.