24Th Annual Report of the Bank for International Settlements
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BANK FOR INTERNATIONAL SETTLEMENTS TWENTY-FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT 1st APRIL 1953 — 31st MARCH 1954 BASLE 14th June 1954 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page I. Introduction i Financial position and activities of the B.I.S. (p. i), 1953 a year of economic progress, adjustment and consolidation (p. 2), cost of living and wholesale prices in different countries (p. 3), trend of the labour markets (p. 5), liberalisation of trade (p. 6), narrowing of gap between free-market and official exchange rates (p. 6), terms of trade (pp. 7, 8), improvement in the international balance-of-payments position (p. 9), balance-of-payments situation in the United States and Canada (p. zo), changes in the currents of trade (p. 12), imports of Switzerland from main trading partners (p. 13), changes in industrial production in 1952 and 1953 (p. 15), production of manufacturing industries in the United Kingdom (p. 16), production in the metal-using industries (p. 17), divergence between economic developments in western Europe and those in the United States and Canada (p. 18), improvement in production in France (p. 18), economic upturn in western Europe (p. 19), inventory adjustment in the United States (p. 20), monetary and credit policies pursued in the United States in 1953 (p. 21), monetary policy adapted to changing conditions (p. 24), flexible interest rates (p. 25), signif- icance of budgetary results (p. 26), export problems (p. 29), return to normal market methods of trading (p. 30), east-west trade (p. 30), connection between economic freedom and economic strength (p. 32) II. The Basis of Economic Growth 33 Divergent economic trend in the United States and western Europe (p- 33), inflation no basis for sustained economic expansion (p. 35), success of the German currency reform of 1948 (p. 35), Austria, an example of the importance of monetary rehabilitation (p. 36), trade unions' support for non-inflationary employment policies (p. 38), reopening of the markets for staple commodities in the United Kingdom (p. 40), liberalisation of imports (p. 40), pricing of agricultural products (p. 41), International Wheat Agreement (p. 44), subsidies to agricultural producers in the United Kingdom (p. 45), necessity of taking into account social security charges in comparing wage levels in different countries (p. 45), distribution of social security costs in different coun- tries (p. 46), disparities between French and foreign prices (Nathan Commission) (p. 47), lack of balance in the housing sector (p, 48), recent tendencies in housing policies (p. 49), emphasis on profitability in eastern Europe (p. 51), current savings as a basis for healthy economic growth (p. 51), dangers of heavy taxation of capital under conditions of normal competition (p. 53), necessity of reducing current expenditure of central and local authorities (p. 54), importance of personal savings (p. 54), life-insurance premiums and reserves in different countries (p- 55) > assets of all insurance institutions in the United States and Page premiums and contributions received (p. 56), receipts of insurance institutions in Switzerland (p. 56), saving by private households in Great Britain (p. 57), recovery of insurance business in Germany (p- 58)> limited importance of life insurance in Italy and France (p. 59), advantages and drawbacks of saving through insurance (p. 60), necessity of restoring effectively functioning capital markets (p. 61), national income in France since 1901 (p. 61), the prerequisites for economic growth (p. 63) III. Prices: Individual Variations and Overall Stability 64 Index of world-market commodity prices (p. 64), price movements in the United States (p. 66), changes in the prices of important raw materials in the United States (p. 66), commodity prices in the United States (pp. 3, 67), prices of coffee and cocoa (p. 68), fear of shortages at time of Korean crisis basically unfounded (p. 68), cost of living and wholesale prices in different countries (pp. 4, 6g), world production of basic commodities (p. 70), world output of non-ferrous metals since 1900 (p. 71), Coal and Steel Community (p. 73), production of coal and steel in the Community and in the United Kingdom (p. 74), world production of hard coal (p. 75), price policy of the National Coal Board in the United Kingdom (p. 76), price movements in the United Kingdom (p. 76), stockpile purchases in the United States (p. 77), reopening of commodity markets in the United Kingdom (pp. 40, 78), wholesale prices in France (p. 78), reopening of the Amsterdam cocoa market and Le Havre coffee market (p. 7g), price reductions in the U.S.S.R. and other eastern European countries (p. 7g), dissolution of the Inter- national Materials Conference (p. 80), International Wheat Agreement (pp. 44, 80), International sugar agreement (p. 80), draft agreement for tin (p. 81), the Randall Commission opposed to control schemes for individual commodities (p. 81), short and long-term prospects in the price sector (pp. 81, 82). See also: changes in money wages in different countries (p. 6), export and import prices (p. 7), terms of trade (p. 8), industrial production in different countries (p. 15), manufacturing pro- duction in the United Kingdom (p. 16), production in the metal-using industries (p. 16), industrial production in the United States and Canada and in the O.E.E.C, countries (p. 18), pricing of agricultural products (p. 41), wheat prices (p. 42) IV. Foreign Trade and the Balance of Payments . 83 Development of national income and foreign-trade turnover (p. 83), volume of foreign trade (p. 84), world shipping capacity and sea-borne cargo (p. 85), world trade turnover (p. 85), foreign trade and/or balance of payments of: the O.E.E.C, countries (p. 10), the United States (pp. 10, 87), the United Kingdom and the sterling area (p. go), Ireland (p. g3), France (p. g4), Italy (p. g7), Portugal (p. gg), Spain (P- 99) > Greece (p. 100), Turkey (p. 100), Yugoslavia (p. 101), Austria Page (p. 102), western Germany (p. 103), the Netherlands (p. 106), the Belgium-Luxemburg Economic Union (p. 108), Switzerland (p. no), the northern countries (p. in), Denmark (p. 112), Norway (p. 113), Sweden (p. 114), Finland (p. 115) ; trade between the western and the eastern world (p. 116), O.E.E.C, countries, liberalisation of trade and invisible transactions (pp. 6, 117), G.A.T.T., eighth session (p. 119), Randall Commission's statement on commercial policy (p. 120) V. Foreign Exchange Rates and Markets 121 Restoration of a natural balance (p. 121), introduction of foreign exchange arbitrage in Europe (p. 121), arbitrage on the London market (p. 122), forward transactions (p. 124), relaxation of restrictions on trade and payments (p. 125), sterling quotations in New York (pp. 125, 127), British control regulations, outline of permissible transfers (p. 126), improvement of exchange rates in France (p. 128), relaxation of foreign exchange regulations in western Germany (p. 12g), quotations of DM notes and Sperrmark in Switzerland (p. 12c), relaxation of foreign exchange control regulations in Belgium and the Netherlands (p. 130), the currencies of the Benelux countries (p. 131), the Greek drachma (p. 131), east German Mark (p. 131), Israel £ (p. 132), rial rates in Iran (p. 132), exchange rates system in Thailand (p. 133), fluctuations of Canadian dollar (p. 133), recommendations of the Randall Commission regarding convertibility (p. 135), exchange rates in: Peru (p. 135)> Mexico (p. 136), Paraguay (p. 137), Chile (p. 137), Brazil (p. 137). exchange-rate policies of the Latin American group of countries (p. 138) free and parallel-market rates in Europe (p. 139), retention quotas (p. 139), free-market rates for bank-notes in Switzerland (p. 140), the establishment of convertibility (p. 140), official currency values (p. 142) VI. Gold Production and Monetary Reserves 144 Developments during the past year (p. 144), production of gold (p. 145), operating statistics of South African mines (p. 146), subsidies paid to Canadian gold producers (p. 148), United States' output (p. 148), Australian production (p. 148), estimates of gold production of the U.S.S.R. and associated countries (p. 149), gold markets and hoarding (p. 149), estimates of disappeared gold (p. 150), price of gold on European free markets (p. 151), gold price in France (p. 151), reopen- ing of the gold market in London (p. 151), gold markets outside Europe (p. 153)1 g°ld reserves of central banks and governments (p. i54)> movements of monetary reserves (p. 155), United States' monetary gold stock and earmarked gold (p. 156), gold reserves and short-term dollar balances outside the United States (p. I57)> sterling balances (p. 158)1 gold payments in E.P.U. (p, 159), United Kingdom: gold and dollar reserves (p. 160), French reserve position (p. 160), adequacy of the reserves (p. 161) Page VII. Another Year of Flexible Credit Policies 163 Overcoming of latent inflation and disappearance of belief in cheap- money policy (p. 163), gross national product and money supply in different countries (p. 164), changes in money supply (p. 168) ; United States: monetary and credit policies (pp. 21, 168), official discount rates (p. 169), security yields and short-term money rates (p. 170), reserve requirements (p. 170), formation of the money supply and its components (p. 171), corporate investments and their financing (p. 171), Treasury accounts (p. 172), U.S. Government cash receipts and pay- ments (p. 173); United Kingdom: budget (p. 173), changes in credit extended to the public and private sector by London clearing banks (p. 174), selected items from the monthly returns of London clearing banks (p. 174), capital issues (p. 175), short and long-term rates (p. 175) ; Belgium : credit granted to the economy and the public authorities (p. 176) ; the Netherlands : formation of the money supply (p. 177), interest rates (p.