HC Deb 15 October 1968 vol 770 cc178-9
3. Mr. Bruce-Gardyne

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a progress report on the workings of the two-tier marketing arrangements for gold.

Mr. Roy Jenkins

The system has worked well and I see no reason why it should not continue to do so for a considerable time to come.

Mr. Bruce-Gardyne

Will the Chancellor tell us which British national interest is served by his collaboration with the American Treasury in denying to the South African Government their right under the Articles of the I.M.F. to sell gold for currency to the market?

Mr. Jenkins

It is not a collaboration only with the American Treasury. It is a collaboration with the financial authorities of all the main countries concerned in the world monetary system. The British national interest which is here served is the stability of the international monetary system to which I, at any rate, attach very considerable importance. The hon. Member has always been pessimistic about the working of that system. It is working far better than he indicated in previous Questions which he put to me, and I believe that it can continue so to work.

Mr. Barnett

Does my right hon. Friend believe that it is likely to be a much more permanent system than was originally envisaged? Does he believe that it can be so permanent that it will no longer be thought to be a stop-gap, as was originally intended?

Mr. Jenkins

It has certainly worked. It has worked better than expected—perhaps better than I expected—when it was introduced in March. "Permanent" is a word to which one can apply varying interpretations, but it can certainly last a long time ahead and there is no need to regard it as a stop-gap.

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