TNAG-0119-FCO40-155-Lord-Shepherd-s-visit-1969 — Page 28

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"If we can be blamed, it is for being slow to realize this.

On

the one hand we have sought for too long to maintain overseas commitments beyond our resources, and on the other hand we have adjusted far too

slowly to the realities of world economic changes.

"The changes required of us will not come about easily.

British

society is based on a very delicate and intricate balance of forces and

anything which upsets this balance is highly unpopular.

This accounts

for the slowness in which management and the trade unions at home accept

But change there is and we in Britain are at present in the

change.

throes of a major change.

Let this be fully understood.

"The course of the British economy since devaluation in 1967 has

Overall, proved heartening in some respects yet disappointing in others.

the balance of payments has improved, though not as fast as we had hoped.

This is due mainly to the fact that we still import far too much.

has offset much of the considerable improvement in exports."

Exports Doing Well

This

"Exports have done and are doing well. They have increased

faster than we had hoped. In the first quarter of this year their sterling

value was 8.2 per cent higher than in the corresponding period of last year.

During 1968 for the first time, I believe, in the past decade we had both

an improvement in the balance of payments and a rate of growth of about

4 per cent. This is encouraging.

"Allowing for a favourable invisible balance of trade of between

£20 million and £30 million a month, the high current deficit has been very

much reduced and our task now is to make this trend continue so that we

move into a substantial surplus.

/"The .....