Fight against inflation

Press, 17 August 1977, Page 19

Fight against inflation

Tn his address to the annual meeting the chairman of Ballins Industries, Ltd, (Mr B. J. Wilks) made some french remarks about inflation and companies.

He said that if the Government had accepted that a continuation of a comparatively high rate of inflation was inevitable, it was essential that some means of assisting industry be immediately forthcoming.

“The Governments in both Australia and the United Kingdom have acknowledged the need to make some assistance available by means of taxation concessions. Such a move here would not necessarily entail the full implementation of the recommendations in regard to inflation account-

ing propounded in the recent Richardson Report, but could be introduced simply and quickly. “It is certainly quite clear that the incidence of inflation has severely affected all trading companies, particularly during the last three years. In this period most companies have reached the stage where their only recourse is to seek further outside funds because retained profits are proving insufficient to provide the liquid money necessary to finance trading requirements and normal plant and equipment replacement, let alone any expansion. There are also difficulties in raising long term capital, with the attendant increasing burden of servicing it in a time of rigid price control.