CUT IN VALUE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26616, 12 November 1947, Page 5

CUT IN VALUE

STERLING AND FRANC ANGLO-FRENCH PROPOSALS REPORTED Rec. 11 p.m. WASHINGTON, Nov. 10. British. French, and United States officials said to-day that they had no knowledge of reported proposals that the British and French Governments were planning to devalue their currencies soon. The Geneva correspondent of the New York Times reported to-day that the French Government, “at an official level,” had decided drastically to cut the value of the franc in relation to the dollar and hinted that the subject had been ; discussed by French officials with officials of the International Monetary Fund. The correspondent added: " Extremely well informed sources recently in Geneva believe that the British pound sterling will be devalued simultaneously in relation to the dollar.”

American officials said they knajv nothing of the reports, but there was a widely-held opinion in Washington that various European currencies should be more realistically valued in the interests of monetary stabilisation, which in turn is vital to any European reconstruction programme. Diplomatic quarters said that European uncertainty over the American attitude to the proposed establishment of a 3,000,000,000-dollar stabilisation fund might cause European governments to delay action. International Monetary Fund officials declined to comment.