§ Mr. Cohenasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will provide his estimate of the balance of payments surplus or deficit for each quarter in (i) the current financial year and (ii) next financial year.
§ Mr. MacGregorFigures published by the Department of Trade and Industry today show that the current account was in surplus by £379 million in the second quarter of 1986, and in deficit by an estimated £634 million in the third quarter. The current account was estimated to have returned to a surplus of £65 million in October. The Industry Act forecast published with the autumn statement projected the current account to be in broad balance for 1986 as a whole and to be in deficit by £1½ billion in 1987. In line with normal practice the quarterly path was not given but no further deterioration is expected in the current account in 1987 compared with the second half of 1986.