What is the average rate of interest payable on (a) American moneys invested in Australia, (b) United Kingdom moneys invested in Australia, and (c) other moneys invested in Australia?

Overseas funds are invested in Australia in a variety of assets such as direct investments in companies, portfolio investments in companies, government securities, loans, trade credits and real estate, lt is not possible to catalogue a meaningful " average rate of interest " payable on such disparate forms of investment.

However, the bulk of the overseas capital invested in Australia is invested in companies. The Supplement to the Treasury Information Bulletin on " Private Overseas Investment in Australia " (issued May 196S) contained estimates of " earning rates" (after tax) on overseas investment in companies in Australia; for this purpose, the " earning rate " in a year was defined as being the percentage ratio between estimated income payable by companies to overseas investors in that year and the estimated cumulated total of overseas investment in companies at the beginning of that year. The limitations of such estimates are explained in the Supplement. The following table is a revision of the series on page 19 of the Supplement and incorporates data for 1964-63, the last year for which the information necessary for these estimates is available -