§ Mr. Platts-Millsasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer which countries applied to have dollars made available during the period when sterling was convertible; what amounts were made available to each of those countries; and whether these sums were on current account alone.
§ Mr. DaltonI would refer my hon. Friend to the statement I am circulating today in reply to a question by the hon. Member for East Aberdeen (Mr. Boothby).
§ Mr. Boothbyasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much sterling was converted by each foreign country prior to 15th July last, and between 15th July and 20th August.
§ Mr. Dalton,pursuant to his reply [OFFICIAL REPORT, 28th October, 1947; Vol. 443, c. 43], supplied the following information:
The first section of the following table shows the amounts of sterling converted into U.S. dollars or transferred to American account, between 1st January, 1947, and the suspension of convertibility in August, 1947, by countries with which monetary agreements were in force providing for convertibility through the Transferable Account procedure. The figures are gross; that is to say, they are not reduced by any receipts of U.S. dollars from the countries concerned or transfers of sterling from American account to account of the countries concerned. Nor do they include payments in dollars to or receipts in dollars from Canada or countries (e.g., Denmark, France) with which this procedure for convertibility was not in force.
Because of the provision made for the transferability of sterling between third countries, the amounts converted by any 219W one country were not necessarily related to direct trade between that country and the sterling area. The whole procedure was, however, confined to payments for current transactions. The second section of the table gives the estimated changes
£ m. Sterling and United States dollars transferred. Change in sterling liabilities. 1st January–30th June. 1st July–20th August. Total. 1st January–30th June. 1st July–31st August. Total. Argentina 18.7 23.3 42.0 +9.3 -7.5 +1.8 Belgian Monetary Area 18.3 34.4 52.7 +21.6 -23.2 -1.6 Brazil 5.0 7.5 12.5 +5.0 -2.9 +2.1 Finland — 2.8 2.8 +2.9 —2.2 +0.7 Italy 1.3 1.3 2.6 —7.7 +4.1 -3.6 Netherlands Monetary Area. 1.1 2.7 3.8 +4.3 -4.0 +0.3 Portuguese Monetary Area. 4.7 2.9 7.6 -1.8 -0.6 -2.4 Other Countries 0.2 0.9 1.1 — — —