Trade in surplus but crisis remains
1972Peter JeffriesEconomic crisis Read the scan at ETOL (PDF) →Read from the scan by machine and not corrected: headlines and words can be misread, and a caption or advert can run into the text. For anything you quote, read the scan.
THE latest trade figures can give the capitalist class little room for satisfaction.
The £15m June surplus was the first time this year the 'visible' trade figures have been in the black.
They hide the fact that imports fell by £10m over the last month, a sure indication of the squeeze on consumption and even more serious, a continued slump in new investment which depends heavily upon foreign equipment imports.
Exports for the current half year were still running some -per cent below the figure for last year. for the April-June period the deficit on 'visible' trade amounted to nearly £80m. The payments figure as a whole was in surplus for this period only because of earning on "invisibles'-shipping, insurance and banking.
Nor will any broker be fooled by the 'strengthening' of sterling which followed the publication of the trade figures.
For the centre of the currency crisis remains the dollar.
The once mighty dollar remained at its 'floor' level in every European financial centre yesterday and was only prevented from falling below its agreed levels by the support it received from the European central banks.
In other words, the flow of dollars into Europe continues unabated, aggravating the crisis • every Common Market currency.
It is against the development of this unavoidable world crisis that every worker must look at the June trade figures.