The result is that net investment position historically has usually been either negative or around zero, with foreign owned assets in the UK outweighing UK-owned assets abroad.

While that may sound like a bad thing, it reflects the attractiveness of UK assets.

During the eurozone crisis, for example, Britain was often seen as something of a safe haven by international investors, keen to put their money into the UK to benefit from relatively strong economic growth.

As a result Britain was a net receiver of inflows of international investment, giving a net deficit position on this metric.

If foreign investors seek to repatriate or redistribute this investment now that the eurozone economies are picking up - or British investors become particularly keen to put money into the recovering continental economies, or indeed into any other growth area such as the US or Asia - then the metric will swing into positive territory.

Initial estimates of the international investment position did appear to show something like this happening. The fall in the pound also affected the value of overseas investments.

As a result Britain suddenly had a net ‘positive’ position of just shy of £470bn for 2016.

The new revision eliminates that positive net position, instead revealing a small negative figure.