MONETARY AGREEMENT

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 181, 2 August 1944, Page 3

MONETARY AGREEMENT

EXCESSIVE RIGIDITY OrPOSEI) LONDON. July 30. The provisional agreement at the United Nations' Monetary Conleronce in America Is welcomed In British financial clrclcs, cxccpt in one respects—amission in available summaries of mention ot the "escape clauses" embodied In the Joint proposals last April. These safeguards were hailed as a triumph for the British point ol view, which favoured flexible exchange parities, and fours exist that their omission from the international monetary fund plan would produce much more rigid linking of sterling to gold than was contemplated earlier. The Government, however, has repeatedly affirmed its determination not to allow too rigid stability of sterling to Interfere with its declared policy of maintaining a high and stable level of employment, aided by an expansionary monetary policy. Commentators point out, nevertheless, that if Britain is deprived of the right to devalue sterling in certain conceivable circumstances, this programme would be thwarted.