HC Deb 02 August 1962 vol 664 cc780-1
22. Mr. Harold Davies

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is now taking to meet a possible devaluation of the United States dollar.

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

None, Sir.

Mr. Davies

Is the right hon. Gentle-man telling the House that the Government are not even considering this possibility? Has he not been reading some of the most recent articles in the financial journals of repute pointing out this possibility? Have we no constructive alternative to give to the International Monetary Fund at its meeting in September, and is not the Minister aware that the dramatic slide on Wall Street readied a pitch on 28th May which was equal to the blackest days of 1929? Is he now telling the country that the Government have not even thought of the possibility of meeting this crisis?

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

I am not telling the country and the House anything more than I have said in answer to the hon. Gentleman's Question.