§ Lord Pearson of Rannochasked Her Majesty's Government:
What was the cumulative deficit on the United Kingdom's trade (less exports of goods, services and investment income) with the rest of the European Union for the years 1973 to 1998 inclusive. [HL3001]
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics who has been asked to reply.
Letter from the Director, Macro-Economic Statistics and Analysis Group, Office for National Statistics, Mr. John Kidgell, dated 29 June 1999.
In the absence of the Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your recent parliamentary question on the deficit of the United Kingdom's trade with the rest of the European Union (EU).
Latest data for current account transactions with the EU are published in the Balance of Payments First Release, a copy of which is available in the House of 19WA Lords Library. The latest release published on 22 March gave estimates for 1997 and 1998.
Estimates of the geographical breakdown of the UK balance of payments current account data for 1992 to 1997 were published in Economic Trends, December 1998 (number 541), a copy of which is available in the House of Lords Library. It is planned to extend this analysis from 1988 to 1998 in the forthcoming annual UK Balance of Payments (Pink Book) to be published later this summer. These data are likely to be revised for all years due to improvements in methodology.
A copy of the relevant pages of the Economic Trends article are enclosed. I have also attached a table that shows the UK's current account balance with the EU excluding the balance on current transfers for the years 1992 to 1998. Finally, I have attached a table showing the UK's balance of trade in goods only for 1973 to 1998.
§ Lord Shore of Stepneyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What was the current account surplus or deficit in United Kingdom trade with the other countries in the European Union in the latest available year; and what were the figures of the United Kingdom's current account with other countries in the European Union (excluding Finland, Austria and Sweden) in each year since 1990 at constant prices. [HL3168]
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics who has been asked to reply.
Letter from the Director, Macro-Economic Statistics and Analysis Group, Office for National Statistics, Mr. John Kidgell, dated 29 June 1999.
In the absence of the Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your recent parliamentary question on current account data for the United Kingdom with the countries in the European Union (EU).
The data requested are shown in the attached table. The latest annual data for the individual EU countries are for 1997 as published in the December 1998 edition of Economic Trends. Figures for 1998 will be published in the 1999 UK Balance of Payments Pink Book, a copy of which will be available in the House of Lords Library at the end of August.
The ONS does not compile constant price data for trade in goods and services for individual countries. We do however publish volume and price indices for trade in goods with the EU as a whole. I am therefore attaching copies of tables 4 and 5 from the latest UK Trade First Release, published 23 June, a copy of which is available in the House of Lords Library. The series have been defined to include Finland, Austria and Sweden for the years before their accession.
20WA
UK Current Account Balances with EU Countries, 1997 £ million Trade in Goods Trade in Services Total Income Current Transfers Current Account Austria -234 1 -273 -28 -534 Belgium & Luxembourg1 -632 68 -637 -20 -1,221 Denmark -227 363 -233 15 -82 Finland -988 249 -109 30 -818 France -1,167 -1,463 847 68 -1,715 Germany -5,030 970 940 101 -3,019 Greece 649 -291 78 -8 428 Ireland 1,935 823 311 -256 2,813 Italy -1,333 37 1,189 55 -52 Netherlands 1,578 350 -716 481 1,693 Portugal -11 -529 95 -23 -468 Spain 1,654 -2,593 137 -100 -902 Sweden -281 440 188 31 378 EU Institutions2 — 274 -682 -2,164 -2,572 EU Total -4,087 -1,301 1,135 -1,818 -6,071 Source:
Office for National Statistics.
Notes
1 Data for Belgium are not separately available.
2 The definition of the EU includes EU institutions as defined by EUROSTAT.