Soviet Mark Slumps in Berlin

Grey River Argus, 21 February 1949, Page 5

Soviet Mark Slumps in Berlin

(Rec 10.10) LONDON, February 20. There are rumours of impending Russian zone currency reforms. They, have caused a financial panic in Berlin. bringing the value of the Russianbacked Eastern Deutschmark down by half, says the British United Press correnondent at Berlin. The official Western sector currency exchanges are now offering at six Eastern marks for one Western mark. Some of the black market operators are giving as high as 10 Eastern marks to one Western mark. The ratio between the two currencies had previously been fairly stable at 3.5 Western for one Eastern mark. An official of the Soviet. Information Bureau denied that, a new. currency reform is about to he introduced in the Soviet see*or of Berl’n The Soviet-licensed German News said that hundreds of thousands nf workers be’ng cheated of .mart--- ’rw the chimp rf the Ea c t" v n m 0 ” 1 --. it blamed th? Br't'sh Min-v Gwe--mP nt 'h- .nUn-mgt'T it need the r , ■’-’•yrp-inn-“■‘Die Welt” tn sp”ead fare row' about a coming Russian zone cur- • rency reform.