asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what effect the fall in interest rates in the current year has had on the size of the public sector borrowing requirement.

I estimate that the recent fall in interest rates may have saved £200 million to £250 million on public sector payments of interest to the private sector and overseas in 1977–78.It will also have led to reductions in receipts of tax and interest, and I cannot estimate the net effect of these on the PSBR.