§ Mr. Lawsonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish estimates of the average rate of interest on outstanding Government borrowing for all financial or calendar years since 1960.
§ Mr. Denzil DaviesThe estimates requested are given below for financial years from 1966–67:
Interest payments as percentage of outstanding central Government debt (1) per cent. 1966–67 3.6 1967–68 3.8 1968–69 3.9 1969–70 3.9 1970–71 3.9 1971–72 4.2 1972–73 4.5 1973–74 5.2 1975–76 5.5 1976–77 6.5 (1) Estimated as the arithmetic mean of beginning and end year estimates of the nominal amount of outstanding debt.
608WFigures for total outstanding central Government debt are not readily available for earlier years.