THE FRENCH FRANC

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 125, 23 November 1926, Page 9

THE FRENCH FRANC

A DRAMATIC RISE

FINANCIERS BEWILDERED

REMARKABLE SCENES ON

BOURSE,

(United Press Association.—Copyright.) (Received 23rd November, 10 a.m.) PARIS, 22nd November. Franco is faced with a new franc sensation. Strangely, it is not a dramatic fall, but a dramatic rise upward to 128 to the £, against 147 last week. This has loft financiers in a state of bewilderment. Public opinion realised that a serious economic crisis was likely to arise from over-rapid deflation dealing a heavy blow at trade, making money tight, reducing exports, and increasing imports. The situation at present is as bad as iv July, when the franc dropped to 240 to the &. Meanwhile, absurdly high prices are based on that rate, making Paris tho dearest instead of the cheapest capital in Europe. Shopkeepers who thought to make a fortune out of foreigners were badly caught. Those who were recently clamouring for a tax to be levied on foreigners are grumbling that they will be ruined because British tourists will not be coming to Paris at Christmas. Shops are deserted, and people are not purchasing, being afraid of what is going to happen. The scenes when the Bourse was closing business were most remarkable, and every telephone and cable to foreign centres was engaged. There were the t/.ldest fluctuations, an men stood with pale faces watching ruin creep upon them.