§ Mr. Shoreasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what information he has on what the surplus or deficit on current account of the United States of America, Germany, Japan, France, Italy and the United Kingdom has been in each year since 1973; and what is the forecast for 1987.
§ Mr. Lawson[pursuant to his reply, 18 March 1987]: The information is as follows:
Current account balances (US$ billion, figures as a percentage of GDP in brackets United States Japan Germany 1973 7.2 (0.5) -0.1 (0) 4.6 (1.3) 1974 2.0 (0.3) -4.7 (-1.0) 10.3 (2.7) 1975 18.1 (1.2) -0.7 (-0.1) 4.1 (1.1) 1976 4.2 (0.3) 3.7 (0.7) 3.9 (0.9) 1977 -14.5 (-0.7) 10.9 (1.5) 4.1 (0.8) 1978 -15.4 (-0.7) 16.5 (1.7) 9.0 (1.4) 1979 -1.0 (0) -8.8 (-0.9) -6.0 (-0.8) 1980 1.9 (0.1) -10.7 (-1.0) -15.7 (-1.9) 1981 6.3 (0.2) 4.8 (0.4) -5.2 (-0.8) 1982 -9.1 (-0.3) 6.8 (0.6) 4.1 (0.6) 1983 -46.6 (-1.4) 20.8 (1.8) 4.1 (0.6) 1984 -106.5 (-2.8) 35.0 (2.8) 7.0 (1.1) 1985 -117.7 (- 2.9) 49.2 (3.7) 13.2 (2.1) 1986 -140.6 (-3.3) 86.0 (4.2) 35.8 (3.6)
France United Kingdom Italy 1973 1.5 (-0.2) -2.6 (-2.0) -2.5 (-1.7) 1974 -3.9 (-2.3) -7.9 (-4.6) -8.0 (-4.6) 1975 2.7 (0) -3.5 (-2.1) -0.6 (-0.2) 1976 3.4 (-1.5) -1.6 (-1.7) -2.8 (-1.5) 1977 0.4 (-0.7) -0.2 (-0.1) 2.5 (1.2) 1978 7.0 (0.6) 1.9 (0.4) 6.2 (2.4) 1979 5.2 (0.9) -1.6 (-0.4) 5.5 (1.7)
Capital allocations and gross spending—in England ( DOEI LAI and DOE/UAI) and Wales 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 England—allocations DOE/LA I 3,494 4,288 4,101 3,450 2,970 2,755 2,639 DOE/UA I 83 174 201 268 271 270 258 Total 3,577 4,462 4,302 3,718 3,241 3,025 2,897 —gross spending DOE/LA 1 3,739 4,652 5,364 5,618 4,808 5,075 4,928 DOE/UA I 149 253 259 265 270 270 258 Total 3,888 4,878 5,623 5,883 5,078 5,345 5,186 Wales—allocations 237 325 343 271 263 323 369 —gross spending 275 367 415 337 332 381 402