Balance of Payments

HC Deb 18 January 1990 vol 165 cc341-2W

25. Mr. Skinner

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what are the latest figures for the balance of payments(a) for visibles and (b) for invisibles; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Norman Lamont

In the three months to November 1989, the visible trade deficit was £5.2 billion, the smallest deficit since the three months to June 1988. Preliminary estimates for invisibles for the third quarter of 1989, the latest period for which figures are available, show a surplus of £0.2 billion.