To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what has been the increase in the money supply since 1 January 1988; and how much of the total is accounted for by the funding of the trade deficit.

There is no simple connection between the money supply and the trade deficit. Figures for the monetary aggregates are published in table 11·1 of "Financial Statistics". Information on the trade balance is published in table 27 of "Economic Trends".