Mr. J. Enoch Powellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much of the estimated public sector borrowing requirement in 1981–82 he expects will have been funded by borrowing from the banks and increase of coins and notes.
§ Sir Geoffrey Howe[pursuant to his reply, 15 March 1982, c. 19]: The public sector borrowing requirement for 1981–82 is estimated to be around £10½ billion in the Financial Statement and Budget Report. The final outturn will not be known until May 1982. Analyses of the financing of the PSBR by economic sector and type of asset are published in Financial Statistics—table 2.6. The June 1982 edition will include figures for 1981–82 as a whole. We expect that over the year the PSBR will have been fully funded by sales of gilt-edged stock and national savings to the non-bank private sector. The increase in coins and notes in circulation is likely to be less than £½ billion. The contribution of the monetary sector, which includes banks and licenced deposit takers, to financing the PSBR is unlikely to be significant and could even be negative. Within the latter amount will be included the increase in holdings of notes and coin by the monetary sector.