§ Mr. Norman Lamontasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will publish a table showing the non-oil balance of payments in each of the past nine months.
§ Mr. Robert Sheldon:The following table shows the balance of overseas visible trade excluding trade in oil. Statistics of other visible trade involving oil companies—for example, import of equipment—and oil companies' impact on invisibles and on the capital account of the balance of payments cannot be separately identified.
BALANCE OF VISIBLE TRADE, 1977 Seasonally Adjusted £million Month Oil* Non-Oil Total January -356 -179 -535 February -208 +24 -184 March -252 +9 -243 April -230 +84 -146 May -298 +21 -277 June -197 -113 -310 July -198 -32 -230 August -192 +332 +140 September -209 +300 +91 *Trade in petroleum and petroleum products (Division 33 of the Standard International Trade Classification).