§ Colonel Ponsonbyasked the Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department whether he has considered the representations which have been made by the London Chamber of Commerce to the Export Credits Guarantee Department pointing out that the limited cover, 75 per cent., afforded by the Department in respect of the transfer risk is a deterrent to traders carrying on business with Scandinavia and those countries contiguous to Germany; whether he will increase the percentage covered to 100 per cent.; and whether the Government will hold traders who take out this insurance covered against the risk of non-payment through the invasion of neutral countries, as was done when Czecho-Slovakia and Poland were invaded by Germany?
40W
§ Mr. R. S. HudsonThe matters to which my hon. and gallant Friend refers are constantly under consideration, but I would point out that it is the policy of the Department to require traders to carry some proportion of the risk involved in exporting goods to countries overseas. With regard to the last part of the Question, the Department's transfer guarantee covers the buyer's inability to transfer payments into sterling, whether the transfer is prevented by war conditions or otherwise.