asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the current indebtedness in foreign currencies of, respectively, the United Kingdom public sector and the United Kingdom private sector, including facilities arranged by British multinational companies to support their offshore operations including North Sea oil development to United Kingdom banks and what is the extent of foreign currency facilities arranged but not yet utilised by, respectively, public sector and private sector borrowers.
The latest figures available for the total foreign currency indebtedness of United Kingdom public and private sector bodies to United Kingdom banks, but excluding that of Her Majesty's Government, is given in Table 41 of the April edition of "Financial Statistics", published by the Central Statistical Office. In addition, the larger part of the $2·5 billion loan taken by Her Majesty's Government involves indebtedness to banks
| £ million | ||||||
| M1 | M1 plus non-resident current accounts | M3 | M3 plus non-resident current and deposit accounts | |||
| 1970 | … | … | 9,635(9) | n.a. | 18,175(9) | 34,970(17) |
| 1971 | … | … | 11,088(15) | 11,373 | 20,541 (13) | 40,836 (17) |
| 1972 | … | … | 12,657 (14) | 12,972 (14) | 26,245 (28) | 54,238 (33) |
| 1973 | … | … | 13,303 (5) | 13,689 (5) | 33,430 (27) | 75,098 (38) |
| 1974 | … | … | 14,739 (11) | 15,189 (11) | 37,633 (13) | 88,756 (18) |
| n.a.: Not available. (Figures giving the split between non-resident current accounts and deposit accounts are available only from 1971.) | ||||||