asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the total Government borrowing requirement and the total of central Government spending for each year since 1979; what proportion this represented of gross domestic product; and what information he has as to how these figures compare with those for the United States of America, Japan, Germany and Australia, respectively.

[pursuant to his reply, 8 March 1985, c. 640]: The general Government borrowing requirement in cash and as a percentage of GDP are for the UK in financial years from 1979:

	Cash GGBR (£ million)	Ratio GGBR/GDP per cent.
1979–80	10,436	5·04
1980–81	13,586	5·76
1981–82	8,585	3·31
1982–83	10,104	3·56
1983–84	10,086	3·30

Owing to differences in structure and definition of Government accounts, international comparisons of borrowing requirements are not easily made. Comparisons of general Government financial balances are less problematic but should still be made with caution. The table shows the latest outturns for these balances as a percentage of GDP published by the OECD.

General Government Financial Balance as a percentage of GDP
	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983
United Kingdom	-3·2	-3·8	-3·1	-2·4	-3·3
*USA	+0·6	-1·2	-0·9	-3·8	-4·1
*Japan	-4·8	-4·5	-4·0	-3·4	-3·3
West Germany	-2·7	-3·1	-3·8	-3·4	-2·7
Australia	-1·5	-0·6	+0·5	+0·4	-3·9
(- indicates deficit)
Source: OECD Economic Outlook, December 1984
* as a percentage of GNP

Central Government expenditure in cash and as a percentage of GDP for financial years from 1979 are:

	Expenditure (£ million)	As a percentage of GDP
1979–80	52,429	25·3
1980–81	63,652	27·0
1981–82	73,233	28·2
1982–83	81,497	28·7
1983–84	85,389	27·9

The expenditure figures are from the recent expenditure White Paper (Cmnd 9428 Table 2.3) and they exclude finance for nationalised industries and public corporations. The following table gives a comparison of central Government expenditure as a percentage of GDP on internationally standardised definitions. Nevertheless, the figures should be treated with caution since differences in national accounting systems make it difficult to calculate exactly comparable statistics.The major reason that the UK percentages are higher than the percentages given in the above table is that OECD definition includes debt interest. The proportion of general Government (central and local) expenditure borne by central Government is much higher in the UK than in countries with a federal structure (eg USA, Germany).

Central Government Expenditure as a percentage of GDP
	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983
*United Kingdom	31·9	33·2	36·0	35·3	33·2
USA	16·5	17·6	17·8	18·7	n/a
Japan	18·0	18·5	19·1	18·8	n/a
West Germany	14·9	15·3	16·6	16·8	n/a
† Australia	26·9	26·9	27·1	29·2	n/a