§ Mr. Strawasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list in the Official Report the defence spending for the latest available and comparable year for each European Economic Community and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation country in Europe, expressed in (a) absolute terms in local currency, (b) in £ sterling and (c) as a percentage of that country's gross national product.
§ Mr. PymFigures for defence expenditure by NATO countries expressed in national currencies and as a proportion of gross domestic product are provided in the document "Financial and Economic Data Relating to NATO Defence" which is available in the Library. The table below shows defence expenditure expressed in £ sterling for European members of NATO in 1979. Figures for Greece, Turkey and Eire are not available.
Defence expenditure in 1979 in millions of pounds sterling Belgium 1,760 Denmark 725 France 10,512 Germany 11,620 Italy 3,484 Luxembourg 20 Netherlands 2,351 Norway 691 Portugal 371 United Kingdom 9,085 These figures, which are provisional, are based on average market exchange rates for the first eight months of 1979.