In 1914 British public debt had stood at only £694.8 million. Five years later the figure had mounted to a dizzying £6.142 billion, of which £1 billion was owed to America, and not in sterling but in dollars (Table 7).45 Already in 1919 debt service amounted to 25 per cent of the budget and would in the foreseeable future rise to something closer to 40 per cent.
