§ Mr. Gouldasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether his practice in giving balance of trade figures is to use overseas trade statistics figures or balance of payment figures; and in cases where it is the latter, whether he will publish in his Department's Monthly Statistics on Trade the monthly balance of payments figures for manufactured goods.
§ Mr. Channon[pursuant to the reply, 20 January 1984, c. 359]: Balance of payments figures are always preferred as they provide a truer indication of the effects of trade on the United Kingdom economy. Figures on an overseas trade statistics basis are used only in cases where balance of payments figures are not available.
Recent developments have extended the range of balance of payments based figures to cover trade in manufactures. These will be published regularly in the Monthly Review of External Trade Statistics beginning in the March edition.