asked the Minister for Finance if he will state (a) the nature of the sterling debt referred to in paragraph 31 of the recent White Paper on the Trend of External Trade and Payments, 1951, (b) the amount of the sterling debt; (c) the manner in which the debt occurred; (d) the terms of repayment of this sterling debt; (e) the currency in which it is repayable, and (f) the estimated cost of servicing the debt.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Sterling Debt.
Particulars of changes in external assets and external liabilities (dollar and sterling) are given under 17 headings in the Capital Account of the Balance of Payments Statement covering the years 1946 to 1950 which was published in the June, 1951, issue of the Irish Trade Journal and Statistical Bulletin. The “sterling debt” mentioned in paragraph 31 of the White Paper on the “Trend of External Trade and Payments” refers in particular to the liabilities comprised in item 9 of the statement, as the other forms of external disinvestment mentioned—net realisation of sterling assets and incurring of dollar debt—are covered by items 1 to 8. The net inward movement shown in item 9 for the years 1947 to 1950 is as follows:—
|
£ |
|
|
1947 |
12,491,000 |
|
1948 |
11,783,000 |
|
1949 |
13,821,000 |
|
1950 |
12,926,000 |
In the article accompanying the statement the main constituents of the inward movement shown in item 9 were described as follows: "Long and short term capital inflow from British sources by businesses, loans and advances to Irish residents by external insurance and finance companies, changes in the net deposits held by the commercial banks on behalf of their extern customers, external subscriptions to new issues, redemption of land bonds by externs, and property transactions."
Parts (b) to (f) of the Deputy's question appear to be based on the erroneous assumption that the debt referred to is Government debt.