NO DECISION YET

Southland Times, Issue 23774, 23 March 1939, Page 4

NO DECISION YET

TERMS OF INTERNAL LOAN STATEMENT BY MR NASH No decision on the terms of issue of the internal loan which the Government has announced it will raise this year has yet been made, according to advice received by The Press, Christchurch, from the Minister of Finance, the Hon. Walter Nash. There has been no official statement on the amount of the loan, but it is generally accepted that the amount will be somewhere about £14,000,000. An announcement of the terms of the loan is being awaited anxiously by the market, which has steadfastly refused to invest with local bodies at 31- per cent., the maximum rate allowed by the Government. Returns on existing Government loans are slightly below 4£ per cent, for 4 per cents. In a letter replying to an inquiry made by The Press, Mr Nash says:— “In regard to the proposal to issue a public loan in the Dominion, as already announced, the Government has this matter in hand, but pending a decision as to the terms of issue, I am not in a position to make a statement in the meantime.” In the same letter, Mr Nash, in reply to a further query, states: “I have to state that the question of revaluing the gold held by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has not been considered by the Government, and consequently no statement to the public is contemplated in the meantime.”