§ Mr. Gouldasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of the gross and net United Kingdom contribution in £s sterling to the EEC budget in each of the years 1977–79 at the current rate of exchange; and what would his estimate be if the green pound were to be devalued to this rate of exchange.
§ Mr. Robert SheldonAs stated in the White Paper "Public Expenditure to 1979–80" (Cmnd 6393), United Kingdom gross contributions to the Budget of the European Communities in 1977, 1978 and 1979 have been estimated at £525 million, £585 million and £655 million, respectively, with net contributions in the corresponding years of £210 million, £255
326Wexport prices to the wholesale prices of comparable goods. This ratio is now more favourable to exports than at any time in the past 10 years.
§ Mr. Gouldasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, at the current rate of exchange, British export prices for manufactured goods in United States dollar terms are more or less competitive with French, German and Japanese prices than they were in 1973.
§ Mr. Robert SheldonI am afraid that up-to-date information on other countries' export prices is not available. The latest figures in the United Nations "Monthly Bulletin of Statistics", September issue, are for the first quarter of 1976 and are given below:
million and £325 million. These figures are based on a conversion rate of 2–4 budget units of account to £1.
A devaluation of the green pound would reduce the cost to the Budget of the European Communities of the monetary compensatory amounts which are paid—in most cases by the exporting member State—on United Kingdom imports of certain agricultural products from the Community and, in some cases, on our imports from outside the European Community. Against this, other items of agricultural expenditure would be likely to rise because of the consequential effect of the devaluation on total EEC supply and demand for these products. It is impractical to calculate the net effect of these changes on the European Communities' Budget and hence on the United Kingdom's gross and net contributions.
§ Mr. Gouldasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the EEC budgetary 327W rate of exchange for each EEC member country in relation to the US dollar; and what is the actual rate of exchange.
§ Mr. Robert SheldonThe budget unit of account (bua) is defined as the equivalent of 0.88867088 grammes of fine gold, the parity for the US dollar up to the Smithsonian realignment of currencies in December 1971. The equivalents in the national currencies of member States of the bua are as follows:
1 bua = £0.4167 BF 50 Dan Kr 7.5 DM 3.66 FF 5.55 Lire 625 Fl 3.62 These pre-Smithsonian rates are still used for budgetary purposes. They are not therefore affected by market fluctuations. The current market rates of exchange between the US dollar and the national currencies of member States are published daily.