THE PUBLIC DEBT

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 29, 3 August 1927, Page 5

THE PUBLIC DEBT

REDEMPTION POLICY

REPAYMENT A FEATURE

The gross public debt on the 31st March, 1927, amounted to £245,850,889 as compared;with' £238,855,478 twelve months .previously—an increase for the year of £6,995,411. The net increase for 1925-26 amounted to approximately £11,000,000, bo that' the borrowing for last year represented a decrease of £4,----000,000 in comparison with the previous year. :

New loans borrowed during the year 1920-27 totalled. £9,627,381, of which £ 6,22 7,1 76 was raised in London, while the balance represented the proceeds of local .issues taken up by the public and the Post Office.

As a set-off against the new loans raised, debt to the amount of £2,631,----&70 was redeemedtduring the year. "It is sometimes'asked," said Mr. Stewart, "what is the use of redeeming debt while we are borrowing more, but the reply is that inso far as reduction of war debt is-concerned the result is the-Substitution of productive for deadweight debt, which is a very real gain. A. large public debt "can only be repaid by steady effort'over along period, in which our. national Revenue Account and. taxation is gradually adjusted to carry the charges.

There is no immediate prospect of a cessation of borrowing, and it -would be imprudent finance, damaging to our credit in London, and therefore prejudicial to future borrowing, if debt-repayment were not a constant feature of our .-financial policy. Of. the total reductions .for the year,

* 1,770,467 represented war debt. Since 1922 the war debt had been reduced by £8,280,362, or approximately 10 per cent, in five years. CLASSIFICATION OF DEBT. The Public Debt as at 31st March 1927, was £245,850,889, classified as follows:— Ordinary 132,4f1,885 war •»»•••»..»•••••.,,. 73 563 181 State advances ' " 3019109" Discharged soldiers settlement ... 9!674|726 £245,850,889 The gross debt at the 31st March, 1927, was held as under:— Where held. Amount. ??,*, Z,f land i0a,f05,634 T^nrf» 4,042,150 London ■ 132,512;505 ■ . S 245,850,889 Gross Annual Charge. Interest ift7fin<wi Annual sinking funds ...'.'"i""' "000 Repayment of funded debt 367*705 Public Debt Repayment Account .. 995,539 Total gross charge £ 12,154,473 There is a total set-off of £.27 169 ISS against the Debt, subject, however' to reduction on account of losses to be written off in terms of the Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Acts.