N.Z. IMPORT CUTS NOT CAUSED BY LOAN REPAYMENT

Grey River Argus, 2 April 1948, Page 4

N.Z. IMPORT CUTS NOT CAUSED BY LOAN REPAYMENT

P.A. AUCKLAND, April 'l. “No arrangement has been made to repay this year the London loan of £24,000,000”, said the Minister of Finance, the Rt. Hon. W. Nash, when interviewed on his return by air from Havana. The Minister was asked whether the loan was to be repaid; whether the repayment would be out of current income, and, if so, whether this accounted for a reduction of £20,000,000 in import licences granted for this year. “I do not think there is anything more to be said than I said in my Budget speech last year”, the Minister answered. No arrangement had yet been mad.? to renay the loan, and, although the British Government might have an idea that New Zealand would repay it this year, nothing had been settled. “They are not necessarily linked together”, Mr Nash replied, when asked again if It was proposed to apply to loan redemption the £20,000,000 cut from import licences. He asked why this suggestion had been made, and when it was stated that the opinion was widely held in commercial circles that the Government was likely to follow this course, the Minister recalled that current income was not the only money that New Zealand had in London. There were millions in accumulated balances.