* * * * German Finance In a lecture to
the German Academy this week, the President of the Reichsbank, Dr. Schacht, made a spirited defence of the new financial structure he has created in Germany. It was the more impressive because he himself described as " horrible " the maze of restrictions and regulations with which the German business-man must now comply, and deplored the impossibility of publishing figures of Germany's total indebtedness. - When they were published, he promised the world would be surprised by the relatively small credit basis on which German rearmament has been financed. He attributed the growth of the structure to the need of assuring a sufficient volume of exports to cover necessary imports, for, as he said, Germany is not and cannot be self-sufficient. Indeed rearmament has increased her need of imports, though there is a significant change in the com- modities imported. Between 1934 and 1937 imports of finished goods were cut by 67 per cent., while imports of ore increased by 132 per cent., of oil by 116 per cent., of grain by 112 per cent., and of rubber by 71 per cent., while an unfavourable balance of trade has been turned into a favourable but diminishing one of 443,000,000 marks: Dr. Schacht rightly emphasised that it is still too early to predict what political and economic results may be expected from the new " pressure of 8o,000,000 consumers " on the structure of Europe.
Previous page
