POST-WAR SPENDING

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 282, 25 August 1944, Page 5

POST-WAR SPENDING

Restraints Predicted (Received August 24, 11 p.m.) SYDNEY, August 24. The public must reconcile itself to the postponement of expenditure after the war nnd to restraints on. consumption and investment so as to avoid serious inflationary loss and disorder, declares the annual report of the directors of . the Commonwealth Bank. For some time, the report adds, industries and the import trade will not be able to. supply all the goods which will be required by the holders of the purchasing power available.

This, the directors say, does not mean (hat the purchasing power of the community represented in these accumulations cannot in the long run be fully exercised. It does mean, however, that it cannot all be immediately exercised, and some part of it must be deferred till industry has been able to overtake the arrears of the community’s demands. Treasury bills discounted by the bank for the Government for war purposes have reached £343.000.000. The total increase in notes held by the public since the outbreak of war is nearl?’ '£138,000,000. The report stresses the need for the provision of capital for small industries, which will play an important part in post-war reconstruction,