BELGIUM'S CURRENCY

Evening Star, Issue 21992, 30 March 1935, Page 15

BELGIUM'S CURRENCY

BELGA STILL ANCHORED TO GOLD STANDARD DEVALUATION ANNOUNCED Pres* Association—By Telegraph—Copyright BRUSSELS, March 29. In the Chamber of Deputies the Prime Minister (M. Van Zeeland) announced that Belgium was remaining on the gold standard, but proposed to devalue the belga to a degree not below 36 per cent. The obligation of the National Bank to exchange gold for bank notes will be suspended. The Government proposes to. use all the means in its power to hasten an international agreement by which the principal currencies of the world will again be stabilised on gold. Pending such an agreement and, the reattachment of;the belga to gold, the Government will fix the external value of the belga and maintain it by means of an Equalisation Fund.

A later message states that the gold reserves of the National Bank will be devalued provisionally at 25 per cent, below the present gold parify. AN EARLIER MESSAGE Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright BRUSSELS. .March 28. The closing of tbp Bourses caused something like a panic. Everyone with ready cash is seeking to turn it into goods to avoid the consequences of the expected fall of the belga. The purchases include houses, jewels, and clothing. The shops are doing a roaring trade. The newspapers arc forbidden to refer to devaluation or the bandonment of the gold standard.