§ Mr. G. Straussasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer why exchange control has been relaxed to enable the release of certain blocked sterling accounts owned by non-residents; whether the need for a foreign exchange reserve was taken into account; and how much sterling is involved by this relaxation of the control orders?
§ Sir J. AndersonThe restrictions which have recently been modified were imposed in 1940 and had the effect of deferring the transfer to non-residents of certain payments legally due to them. All relevant factors were taken into account including cases of hardship involved. The accrued liability is approximately £6,000,000.