if he will estimate the level of the current account transaction for goods and services between the UK and EU member states in each of the last five years; and what assessment he has made of the level of debt on the reduction of the deficit.
Mark Hoban (Financial Secretary) The Office for National Statistics report the trade balance in goods and services with the EU to have been -£35 billion in 2007, -£29 billion in 2008, -£26 billion in 2009, -£32 billion in 2010 and -£25 billion in 2011. The total current account balance with the EU was -£38 billion in 2007, -£6 billion in 2008, -£12 billion in 2009, -£48 billion in 2010 and -£41 billion in 2011. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast that the Government is on course to meet its target for debt, laid out in the 2010 June Budget. This is for public sector net debt as a percentage of GDP to be falling by 2015-16. According to the OBR's March 2012 Economic and Fiscal Outlook, public sector net debt is forecast to peak at 76.3% of GDP in 2014-15.
