Word: africa
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...supertanker Marpessa sailed serenely past West Africa on the second leg of her maiden voyage, an explosion suddenly ripped her hull. Last week the shattered hulk slipped to the bottom about 50 miles off Dakar. Marpessa was the biggest oil tanker to sink to date. Fortunately, she was empty-a narrow escape from what has become a serious threat to the surprisingly vulnerable ocean...
...celebrating their victory, were negotiating an arrangement to prevent the free-market price from dropping below $35. They intended to do so by loosening up the U.S.-inspired boycott against South African gold. Under the boycott, central banks had bought hardly any South African gold; this had forced South Africa to sell on the free market, driving down the price. But as the free-market price skidded, European central bankers feared for the value of their own gold reserves. In addition, the Europeans wanted to bring some new South African gold into the international monetary system in order to lessen...
Secret Meeting. Since the Europeans had made the victory possible by agreeing not to buy South African gold in the first place, the U.S. could hardly refuse their request to ease the boycott. For its part, South Africa was ready to sue for peace. Its 1969 trade deficit reached an estimated $700 million by October, largely because of imports of machinery needed to modernize its economy. Unless the South African government could sell more gold at a good price, it would have to either 1) pursue risky policies of austerity and deflation during an election year, or 2) restrict imports...
...secret meeting last week in Rome, South African Finance Minister Nicolaas Diedrichs and Paul Volcker, U.S. Treasury Under Secretary, framed a compromise. It would permit South Africa to sell a certain amount of new gold to the International Monetary Fund whenever the country's balance of payments was in deficit and the free price sank to $35 or less. The I.M.F. would pay the official price of $35 and could then resell the metal to central banks. The deal would provide a floor under the gold price, and something of a ceiling as well. Since the I.M.F. would...
Stiff Price. The deal brought an angry response from Congressman Henry Reuss, chairman of the Joint Congressional Subcommittee on International Exchange and Payments. He said that the U.S. "would pay a stiff price for any compromise with South Africa." A floor under the private price of gold, he argued, would encourage speculation by taking the risk out of it, and would possibly tempt foreign bankers to demand conversion of their dollar reserves into gold...