asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his best estimate of the annual loss of invisible earnings to the United Kingdom as a result of the prohibition of sterling finance for third country trade.

Since it is not possible to be at all precise on the size of the capital inflows caused by this measure, nor to estimate how much of the stock of sterling finance was subsequently refinanced in foreign currency, it is impossible to estimate what the loss, if any, of invisible earnings might be.