BRITISH EXCHEQUER
HUGE DEFICIT
DUE TO RE-ARMAMENT
LONDON, July 1
The British Exchequer returns for the first quarter of 1939 underline the enormous growth in defence expenditure, which totalled £123,850,000, double the amount for' the corresponding period of last year. The heavy increase in this and in other expenditure is only partially offset by the expansion of revenue, consequently the deficit, including £14,750,000 of defence borrowing, stands at £151,800,000, the highest since the war.
Total expenditure for the quarter, exclusive of defence borrowings, was £281,137,000, and revenue £144,056,000.
The armament bill of the six great Powers has increased fivefold since 1932. Expenditure in 1938 was estimated at 36 thousand million sterling a figure since far surpassed, Great Britain spending at least 47 per cent, of her Budget, France 50 per cent.; Italy 45 per cent., and Japan over 72 per cent. When war pensions . and other unproductive expenditure are taken into account, out of every 100 • marks, francs^ and lire paid by the taxpayer scarcely 20 are applied to normal State expenditure. The rest goes to pay the cost of past wars and preparations for future ones.
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Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 2, 3 July 1939, Page 9
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187BRITISH EXCHEQUER Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 2, 3 July 1939, Page 9
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