§ Mr. TimmsTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the use of the general Government financial deficit as the principal measure of public debt. [40336]
§ Mr. WaldegraveThe general Government financial deficit is a national accounts measure of the deficit on the Government's current and capital accounts. As a national accounts measure, the GGFD follows internationally recognised guidelines, allowing international comparisons of government deficits. Partly for this reason, it was chosen as the deficits measure in the excessive deficit procedure set out in the Maastricht treaty. But most countries also use their own measure of the deficit when presenting their Budgets. The UK focuses on the public sector borrowing requirement as it is a measure of the net cash demand of the whole of the public sector on the rest912W of the economy. In addition, monthly PSBR figures are available about two weeks after the end of the period to which they relate, whereas the GGFD is available only quarterly and about three months after the end of the quarter. Forecasts of both are given in the "Financial Statement and Budget Report".