GUIDEPOSTS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 8 January 1944, Page 3

GUIDEPOSTS

A most devastating accusation of the Fascist regime was made by Signor Bartolini, Badoglio’s Minister of Finance, when on sth August he submitted to the Italian Council of Ministers a report on the financial situation of Italy. It revealed that Mussolini entered the war with a total annual revenue of 34,200 million lire, that is 6,200 millions less than the normal non-war expenditure of the country. During the 3 years of war that “normal” deficit continued. To cover the cost of the 3 years of war—2lo,ooo million lire— Mussolini had either to borrow or resort to inflation. On 20th July this year Italy’s note circulation was 96,500 million, or nearly 4 times as much as in 1940. The increase of note circulation by 71,200 million lire over a period of 3 years is equal to the cost of the war in one year. To understand what that means let us compare this with what happened in Britain. During 4 years of war the British note issue has risen from £550 million to £IOOO million. This increase of £450 million equals about one month’s cost of the war, i.e., one month in 4 years.— (“Free Europe”)