§ Sir Brandon Rhys Williamsasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish the latest figures showing per capita gross national product in the top 15 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries.
§ Mr. LawsonFigures of gross national product per captia are not readily available. Estimates of gross domestic product at current market prices per capita for all OECD countries in 1981 are given in "OECD National Accounts Volume 1 Main Aggregates 1952-1981", page 86, table 21. A copy is in the Library. These figures have been converted to a common unit of measurement—United States dollars—on the basis of market exchange rates. It is well recognised that the use of market exchange rates for this purpose can give very misleading results because the rates do not necessarily reflect the relative purchasing powers of national currencies in terms of the goods and services available in the countries being compared. A more realistic assessment is given by the use of purchasing power parities to convert to a common unit. Figures on this basis for 15 OECD member countries are given on page 98 of the same OECD publication.
Provisional estimates of gross domestic product per capita are available for some OECD countries for 1982, converted to a common unit of measurement on the basis of exchange rates. These figures are given in the following table.
Gross domestic product at current market prices, per capita US dollars Canada 11,752 United States 13,046 Japan 8,855 New Zealand 7,668 Austria 8,845 Denmark 10,920 720W
Rate of VAT applicable (%) Member State Date Confectionery (non-sugar) Sugar Confectionery Chocolate Half-coated chocolate Belgium 1.1.75 6 Denmark 1.1.75 15 3.10.77 18 1.10.78 20.25 30.6.80 22 France 1.1.75 7 17-6* 7 1.7.82 5.5 18.6‡ 5.5 Germany 1.1.75 5.5 1.1.78 6 1.7.79 6.5 30.6.83 7 Ireland 1.1.75 10 1.9.81 15 1.5.82 18 1132 1.3.83 23
US dollars Finland 10,008 France 9,937 Germany (FR) 10,652 Italy 6,178 Netherlands 9,650 Spain 4,758 Sweden 11,839 Turkey 1,122 United Kingdom 8,358 Source: Derived from OECD main economic indicators, June 1983.