asked the Taoiseach what would have been (a) the trade excess and (b) the balance of payments for 1960 if the terms of trade had remained at the level prevailing in February, 1957.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Trade Excess and Balance of Payments.
1.
It is not possible to give quantitative expression to the effect of changes in the terms of trade on the volume of imports and exports. What can be done is to estimate the value, at price levels prevailing in one period, of the quantum of imports and exports recorded in a different period. If the actual 1960 totals for imports and exports are revalued using the official import and export price (unit value) index numbers for February, 1957, the import excess is estimated at £102.0 million, or £28.0 million more than the actual outcome in 1960. As the actual outcome of balance of payments for 1960 was a deficit on current account of £0.8 million, the deficit obtained by using the revalued external trade aggregates would be £28.8 million.