Viscount Hanworth
Main Page: Viscount Hanworth (Labour - Excepted Hereditary)Department Debates - View all Viscount Hanworth's debates with the HM Treasury
(7 years, 12 months ago)
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Lord O'Neill of Gatley
My Lords, I like to think that my talents are spreading as the years go by but I am not yet capable of reading a French newspaper and so have not read that particular story.
Viscount Hanworth (Lab)
My Lords, it is clear that the only way in which to mend the balance of payments is to increase substantially our exports of manufactured goods. For our goods to become saleable abroad, the value of the pound must be reduced. If nothing is done to overcome the balance of payments problem, it is inevitable that the pound will eventually plummet. Can the Minister envisage a more orderly way of reducing the value of the pound?
Lord O'Neill of Gatley
My Lords, it is time for repetition again: our trade balance is smaller than it has been at any time in the past 10 years. It has been stable at around 2% of GDP. The deterioration of the current account, which has been significant in the past two years, is due to a growing imbalance in the so-called investment account.