Word: brittan
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...Brittan, assistant editor of London's Financial Times, pointed out that the recent downturn in the value of the U.S. dollar and the British pound should help ease protectionist pressures both in the U.S. and throughout Western Europe. The U.S. and Britain, whose exports have suffered from overvalued currencies for more than a year, are now expected to be less inclined toward curbing imports. Reason: foreign-made goods will become relatively more expensive, and thus less competitive, in the U.S. and British markets, thereby helping to stimulate sales for domestic manufacturers and reduce demands for protectionist measures...
Meanwhile, countries like West Germany, which had tightened monetary policy to protect the deutsche mark, can now begin pursuing a more expansionary credit policy. But, cautioned Brittan: "The trouble is that the world trade situation has grown so delicate that steps toward protection, which might have been averted if the currencies had changed earlier, may now prove more difficult to stop...
BRITAIN. Estimates for growth this year have again been scaled downward. Samuel Brittan now predicts an increase in the gross national product of just .75%, instead of the 2% he foresaw in January. On the positive side, he points out that private investment has held up remarkably well, and inflation, which was running at 20% annually in 1980, will drop this year...
Unemployment in Britain, already the highest in the European Community, is expected to reach a high of 12.6% this year. Said Brittan: "I do not think that even this government will be able to let unemployment go on rising beyond this point." He expects some job-creation programs and other policy tinkering later in the year...
...financial issue concerns the $25 billion that Poland owes Western creditors. Some officials have been urging the banks to declare Poland in default in order to increase pressure on Warsaw. The European economists were split on that issue. Although the board disapproved of using economic measures for political purposes, Brittan questioned the wisdom of continual rescheduling of the debt. He called the process "default by a slightly sweeter name." Carli replied that the banks had little choice. Said he: "If banks requested all their clients, developed or developing, to pay at once, they would cause the collapse of the financial...