§ 34. Mr. Trotterasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the total public sector borrowing in 1974 and in 1975 expressed as a figure per capita of the population aged 18 years or over.
§ Mr. DellThe public sector borrowing requirement in 1974 expressed per capita of the United Kingdom total population716W aged 18 years or over was £158. Public sector borrowing requirement figures for the fourth quarter of 1975 are not yet available, but the equivalent per capita figure for the first three quarters of 1975 was approximately £257 per annum.
§ 36. Mr. Stonehouseasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the total amount of borrowings from overseas outstanding at the present time on behalf of the Government, nationalised industries and public institutions with Treasury approval; what is the lowest and highest rates of interest charged; what proportion of the loans are repayable on a parity rate other than £ sterling; and what is the total overseas debt expressed as a figure per head of the population of the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. DellThe foreign currency borrowing of Her Majesty's Government and the United Kingdom public sector bodies outstanding on 29th February were $7.8 billion and the equivalent of $7.9 billion respectively. In addition, non-resident investment in Her Majesty's Government and other public sector sterling liabilities totalled £3.6 billion at end-September 1975, the latest date for which information is available. The sum of these foreign currency and sterling figures represents nearly £200 per head of the population. Just over two-thirds of this total debt is denominated in currencies other than sterling. It is not the practice to reveal precise details of the interest rates on overseas loans, but they range from 2½ per cent. upwards with most new loans being taken out on market-related floating rate terms.
§ Mr. David Howellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in providing for the resources to be switched into the balance of trade in table 1.1 of the White Paper on Public Expenditure, he has made allowance for the increase or net repayment of public sector indebtedness overseas in any of the years 1977, 1978 or 1979.
§ Mr. Joel BarnettYes. In determining the amount of resources to be diverted into the foreign balance of goods and services, the interest payments on the public sector's net indebtedness overseas, in so far as they affect the size of the 717W external deficit which has to be eliminated, are indeed taken into account over the whole of the White Paper forecast period.