Word: frances
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...very pleasant," said French Finance Minister René Mayer one day last week, "to cooperate with a man who has as sane ideas as Sir Stafford Cripps." Nonetheless, he was not taking all Sir Stafford's ideas. This week, despite Crippsian objections, the French devalued the franc in a way that, Cripps thought, threatened the pound...
...French had simply made up their minds to stop biting off their noses. With the franc artificially pegged at 119 to the U.S. dollar (when its real value was closer to 340 to the dollar), the French were losing too much world business. If people with dollars could get more francs with them, they could buy more of what France had to sell, from cognac to Citroens. Also, by offering more francs for a dollar, Mayer hoped to lure out of hiding hoards of gold and dollars, valued at hundreds of millions...
Underlying the squabble about the "sudden" devaluation of the French franc is a simple economic problem. French exports necessary to bring in dollars have been priced out the market by a combination of slowed-down inflation and a tight currency exchange. To start the mills rolling again, the French Cabinet decided to cut the value of the currency...
...British have objected from fear that the free-market which the French propose for the franc will inevitably affect the pound adversly. If large amounts of pounds flow through Paris, the British government feels that it will also have to devalue, making foreign commodities more expensive at a time when exports are beginning to climb to a level high enough to cover imports...
...Franc Down? Paris reported rumors that the French franc, pegged at 119 to $1, would soon be devalued to somewhere near its real worth (black market price: 350 to $1). The uncertainty nipped French exports; foreign buyers were all holding off for the lower prices devaluation would bring. Charles Gruere, president of the National Federation of French Exporters, called for the immediate establishment of a "free" export franc similar to the export lira in Italy (TIME, Dec. 8). France was reported ready to establish such a franc. Estimated value...