BRITAIN’S TRADE WITHIN SIGHT OF BALANCING

Grey River Argus, 25 February 1949, Page 5

BRITAIN’S TRADE WITHIN SIGHT OF BALANCING

Reassuring Figures

(Rec. 9.0). NEW YORK, Feb. 23. Britain told the United Nations to-day that she is at last within sight of balancing her trade figures.

Mr Christopher Mayhew, (Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs, speaking in the Economic and Social C'ouncil, said that Britain’s trade deficit in 1947 was £630 million. In the first half of 1948, it was reduced to an annual rate of £240 million. “There is still a disturbing dollar deficit, but it is a truly remarkable and decisive fact that Britain is approaching an overall balance at last”, he said.

Paying tribute to the United States’ assistance, Mr Mayhew said that the purpose* of Marshall Aid was to set Britain free from her dependence on Ameirca.

“We have not the slightest intention of modifying our economic, social, or political plans in order to qualify for aid”, he said' “On the contrary, we are using this aid to forward plans on which we know our particular future depends”.

He said that although Marshall Aid goods sent to Britain in 1948 represented only three per cent, of the total value of the goods and services available -in Britain, they were a critical margin enabling Britain to maintain her high production level. MORE PROFITS FROM SHIPPING N.Z.P.A.—REUTER CABLE) (Rec. 8.0). LONDON, February 24. . The Minister of Transport, Mr J. Barnes, revealed that Britain’s shipping receipts in 1948 should exceed payments by more than £6O million, which is three times the 1938 excess of receipts. "We expect the upward trend will be maintained in 1949”, he said. The profit fell as low as nine million pounds in 1946 owing to Britain’s heavy war-time shipping losses.