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Mr. Burns
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will make a statement on British Coal's external financing limit for 1991–92.
Mr. Wakeham
British Coal's deep-mine and opencast operations have achieved much in the present financial year and the corporation is likely to record a substantial profit after interest for the second year running. Cost cutting through restructuring has, however, been making calls on British Coal's cash resources in the short-term and it has been agreed that the corporation's external financing limit for 1991–92 should be raised from £542 million to £622 million to provide more financial headroom. This increase will be funded out of the existing vote provision for the current financial year.