EXPORT TRADE 25% ABOVE FIGURES IN 1947

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22917, 8 April 1949, Page 5

EXPORT TRADE 25% ABOVE FIGURES IN 1947

LONDON, April 6. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Stafford Cripps, before dealing with Britain’s financial position and his Budget proposals, first turned to some of the more important aspects of the economic survey of the year. He said that the very active and generous American help and reopening of drawings upon Canadian credit had enabled Britain during the past year to get on with the job of her own recovery and to contribute towards the recovery of her partners in the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation. “I think we can claim to have made excellent use of the opportunity thus afforded us,” Sir Stafford Cripps said. One of the factors which had increased Britain’s difficulties, especially during the first half of the year was the continuing deterioration in the terms of trade and Britain had had to export more goods to buy the same value of imports.

Sir Stafford Cripps revealed that the total volume of exports for the year was 135 per cent of the 1938 volume, some 25 per cent over 1947 and this was over practically the whole field of exports to practically all destinations. The Chancellor said that Britain had succeeded in carrying out the policy he had announced last year of restricting her dollar expenditure to what could be covered by her dollar earnings, and it was intended to continue that policy for the rest of the European recovery programme.

Sir Stafford Cripps said if Britain s external financial position deteriorated, she would not at the end of the European recovery programme be strong enough to meet any emergency or be able to play her full part as the centre of the sterling area in a system of expanding world trade.

Sir Stafford Cripps said it should be noted that a large part of the Budget surplus had necessarily been applied to meet floating debt maturities which arose from the reduction in the sterling balances of overseas holders. “The main object of last year’s Budget surplus was to raise enough revenue to cover not only the Government’s urgent expenditure but also that part of the investment programme that could not be safely left to be financed by private savings,” he added.