N.Z. Devaluation ‘Sooner Or Later’

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31539, 29 November 1967, Page 28

N.Z. Devaluation ‘Sooner Or Later’

(Special Crspdt. N.Z.PA.) i LONDON, Nov. 28. New Zealand would have bad to face a decision on devaluation sooner or later —“and probably sooner rather than later”—if Britain had not devalued the pound, the Deputy Prime Minister (Mr Marshall) told British journalists at a press conference in London last night. The reasons, he said, were the serious drop in prices for New Zealand’s wool, the low prices it was receiving for its dairy products and the “fundamental disequilibrium” of the economy. Mr Marshall said New Zealand would have faced the situation irrespective of the British decision. "Now devaluation will improve New Zealand’s competitive position and, if exporters respond, it will add further to solving New Zealand’s overseas funds problem,” he said. There was, said Mr Marshall, a considerable degree of satisfaction that trade “both ways” between Britain and New Zealand had improved. As far as exports to New Zealand were concerned, he felt the improvement was in some ways due to the fact that British exporters were putting added drive into their sales effort. In Wellington today the Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake) was asked to comment on Mr Marshall’s statement that New Zealand would have had to consider devaluation. “I think this would apply to every country in the world—and to even the strongest currency in the world at the present time, which is the American dollar. “I think they will have to face the question of devaluation sooner or later,” said Mr Holyoake.