LOAN REPAYMENT

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21159, 8 July 1940, Page 2

LOAN REPAYMENT

£16,000,000 CONVERSION FIRST INSTALMENT MET SECOND LATER IN YEAR (By Tclezrapb.—*ress Association) WELLINGTON. Sunday “The first instalment of £1,000,000 sterling due at the end of last month on the conversion loan of £16,000,000 negotiated in London last year was paid according to the agreement,’* said the Minister of Finance, the Hon. W. Nash, in an interview tonight. “The second payment for the year, also £1,000.000 sterling, is to be made before December 31.” Mr Nash said the war had made no difference to the agreement concerning the payments to be made by New Zealand. He explained that the decline of nearly £1,500.000 in the Reserve Bank’s holding of sterling reported last week was due to the repayment of loans, principally the first instalment on that negotiated last year. In July last year Mr Nash raised in London, mainly through the assistance of the British banks, a loan of £16.000.000 at 3£ per cent. Together with £1,172,191 available from New, Zealand accumulated sinking funds, this provided sufficient to cover loans amounting to £17,172,191 which fell due on January. 1940. For repayment of the £16,000,000 loan the Dominion undertook to provide for redemption from sterling funds accruing from exports sufficient for instalments of £2,000.000 in 1940 and £3,500,000 in each of the four following years, the loan thus being fully redeemed by January 1, 1945.