asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what reports he has made to the Chairman of the International Monetary Fund following his statement, in his letter to the Chairman dated 18th December 1975, that an essential element of the Government's economic strategy will be a continuing and substantial reduction in the public sector borrowing requirement.

The public sector borrowing requirement was, of course, one of the topics discussed with the IMF during the regular annual Article VIII discussions held in May. The IMF will also be aware of the statement my right hon. Friend made to the House on 22nd July—[Vol. 915, c. 2010].

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much has been borrowed abroad by local authorities and nationalised industries, respectively, in each year from 1960 to 1975 and in the first nine months of 1976.

I assume the hon. Member is interested in the foreign currency borrowing of local authorities and nationalised industries. Amounts borrowed prior to 1969 were negligible; the following table gives details of the amounts borrowed between 1969 and end-September 1976:

Nationalised industries
			£ million
1969	…	…	69
1970	…	…	—
1971	…	…	72
1972	…	…	—
1973	…	…	886
1974	…	…	942
1975	…	…	457
1976 to date	…	…	1,458

Local authorities
1969	…	…	5
1970	…	…	—
1971	…	…	10
1972	…	…	—
1973	…	…	226
1974	…	…	325
1975	…	…	—
1976 to date	…	…	—

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the total borrowing overseas by each of the nationalised industries over the last 12 months; and what is the average rate of interest on these borrowings.

The total foreign currency borrowing by each nationalised industry over the past 12 months is as follows:

	£ million (to nearest £5 million)
National Coal Board	170
Electricity Council	305
South Scotland Electricity Board	10
North of Scotland Hydro Electricity Board	10
British Gas Corporation	180
Post Office	260
British Rail	45
British Steel Corporation	200
National Water Council	420

It is not possible to give an average rate of interest because some of the loans are on a floating rate basis; but at current interest and exchange rates interest payments on the borrowing over the past 12 months would be running at an annual rate of some £0·15 billion.