I propose to take together Questions Nos. 15 and 49 which is a priority question.
The national debt as of 31 December 1987 is provisionally estimated at £26,345 million, comprising £16,649 million of domestic debt and £9,696 million of foreign debt. I have set out in a table, which I will circulate in the Official Report, details of the currency composition of the foreign debt as of 31 December 1987. In accordance with normal practice I do not propose to publish a forecast of the national debt as at the end of 1988.
The estimated cost of servicing the national debt charged on Central Fund services in 1988 is £2,173 million and the comparable figure for 1987 was £2,091 million.
The debt — GNP ratio at the end of 1987 is estimated to have been 151.6 per cent, as compared with 150.7 per cent at the end of 1986. This increase is only a small fraction of the rate of increase in recent years and reflects the considerable progress already made in restoring balance to the public finances. For example, during the five year period ending on 31 December 1986 the debt/GNP ratio grew at an annual average rate of over 11 percentage points.
Similarly, the estimated rate of increase in the cost of servicing the national debt in 1988 is one of the smallest for many years. Debt service payments, however, still constitute a heavy drain on the public finances and in 1988 will be the equivalent of 12.2 per cent of GNP as compared with 6.4 per cent ten years ago. As a result there is no alternative to continuing with the present policy of reducing Exchequer spending and borrowing.
TABLE
Exchequer Foreign Debt at 31 December 1987
Currency
|
IR£m
|
Deutsche Mark
|
2,752
|
US Dollar
|
2,217
|
Swiss Franc
|
1,599
|
Japanese Yen
|
1,256
|
ECU
|
668
|
Dutch Guilder
|
582
|
£ Sterling
|
462
|
Bel/Lux Franc
|
127
|
French Franc
|
22
|
Austrian Sch.
|
10
|
Other
|
1
|
Total
|
9,696
|