STEADY EXPANSION

Timaru Herald, Volume CLIII, Issue 22476, 11 January 1943, Page 4

STEADY EXPANSION

Reserve Bank Note Issue Judged by the note issue of the Reserve Bank, public spending this Christmas was on a more liberal scale, though not greatly so, than in previous years. The note issue on Monday, December 21, reached the new record high level of £30,753,396, an increase since December 14, of £765,706. For the first three weeks of December, which can be reckoned the period of Chistmas note expansion, the note issue in 1942 rose by £2,293,686. In the same period of 1941 the expansion was £1,990,905, in 1940 £2,027,686, in 1939 £1,781,623, and in 1938 £1,946,442. Though the increase in actual Christmas spending has not been great in recent years, the same cannot be said for the note issue. On December 27, 1937, notes issued by the Reserve Bank totalled £15,233,127, or less than half the total of £30,753,396 on December 21, 1942. In the intervening years the expansion has been steadily and continuous, and it is only in the last 12 months that the increase has been really great. During 1938 ths note issue expanded by £1,408.298; in the next 12 months it increased by £2,650,700. During 1940 the increase was £3,475,593. In 1941 the rate of increase slowed considerably, the expansion for the year being £1,831,597. During the past year it has risen from £24.599,305 on December 22, 1941, to £30.753,396 on December 21, 1942, an Increase of no less than £6,154,091.