U.S. DOLLAR LOAN NOT ACCEPTED BY SOUTH AFRICA

Greymouth Evening Star, 22 September 1949, Page 5

U.S. DOLLAR LOAN NOT ACCEPTED BY SOUTH AFRICA

NEW YORK, September 20.—South African negotiations for a dollar loan had not been completed because he was not prepared to accept the conditions the United States wanted- to impose, said the South African Minister of Finance (Mr-N. C. Havenga), tonight, before sailing for South Africa.

Two of the conditions laid down by the United States Government and private financial institutions were: (1) South Africa should deposit the equivalent of the loan in gold in the United States, as security money; and (2) the creditors should have the right to inspect and supervise the spending of the borrowed money in South Africa. '

Mr Havenga said that this amounted to interference in the Union’s internal affairs. American financiers agreed that South Africa was one of the best foreign credit risks in the world, but he found hardly any machinery to finance loans on an ordinary business basis. “I could have borrowed a large amount of money if I had been prepared to have strings attached,” Mr Havenga said. “It would seem to be easier to float a loan in the United States if one’s credit is not above doubt, than if it is admitted to be thoroughly sound.”