W(B)L 51-74 33
NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN
Registry No.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
-Top Secret
Secret.
Confidential. Restricted. Unclassified.......
PRIVACY MARKING
In Confidence
DRAFT Internal Minute
Type 1+44
To:-
From
Sir Arthur Snelling
W. S. Carter
Telephone No. & Ext.
Department
Yesterday we discussed briefly on the
telephone the reaction in Hong Kong to the
import deposit scheme which we are introducing.
I told you that the banks in Hong Kong were
at this time highly liquid and in a strong
position to finance the deposits which will
now become payable on Hong Kong imports into
this country. If the Hong Kong banks are
by one means or another able to finance these
deposits, then the impact upon the Colony's
trade with the United Kingdom will not be
too severe. Of course the cost of their
products imported into this country will be
increased by the cost of the necessary eposit
finance, but on the face of it that will be
all. On the other hand, if the banks were
debarred by Exchange Control Regulations from
frinncing Jelaporto this, the effect on the Colony's trade
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY NO 51
-1 MAY 1969
HK/6/548
would be very severe indeed.
LHK
The value of a
Has bee
A
year's export trade to the United Kingdom is at present₤95 2 15% percent of her total export
trade.
2. Among the first questions therefore,
which Hong Kong asked us through the Hong
Kong Government Office in London when the
new measures were announced was whether this
form of finance would be permitted.
The Hong
/Kong banks