§ Mr. BettsTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the effect on the calculation of the public expenditure planning figure for 1993–94 of the convergence criteria under the Maastricht treaty.
§ Mr. Portillo[holding answer 11 November 1992]: The Government's policies are designed to achieve permanently low inflation, sustainable economic growth and sound public finances, and are consistent with the Maastricht criteria.
§ Mr. BettsTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what information he has on the differences in definitions of public sector borrowing requirement between EC member states, with particular reference to(a) local authority spending of capital receipts and (b) local authority borrowing.
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§ Mr. Portillo[holding answer 11 November 1992]: There are no internationally agreed guidelines for the definition of the public sector borrowing requirement. Different measures of the Government's financial balance are the focus of policy in different EC member states. Comparisons between member states are normally made using the general government financial deficit (GGFD). This is a national accounts concept, the definition of which is covered by international guidelines on how these accounts should be drawn up. The GGFD includes local authorities' income and expenditure, and scores their gross domestic filled capital formation net of receipts from sales of land and buildings.
§ Mr. BettsTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what plans he has to distinguish between the treatment of revenue expenditure and capital expenditure within the public sector borrowing requirement;
(2) what plans he has to distinguish between the treatment of revenue expenditure and capital expenditure within the public expenditure planning total.
§ Mr. Portillo[holding answer 11 November 1992]: From the first unified Budget in December 1993, the Government accounts will be drawn up in a way which makes a distinction between current and capital transactions.