A bill providing for the establishment of new foreign currency controls was introduced in the Israeli Parliament today by Finance Minister Eliezer Kaplan. The bill calls for registration of gold holdings of private persons and authority for the government to sell this gold with the approval of the Parliament’s Finance Committee.
In introducing the measure, the Finance Minister painted a gloomy picture of the Israel financial and economic situation. In the 42 months that the State of Israel has existed, he said, imports reached the total of nearly 300,000,000 pounds ($840,000,000). During the same period, he noted, exports amounted to 40,000,000 pounds ($112,000,000).
About 260,000,000 pounds ($728,000,000) in foreign currency was mobilized abroad from the Jewish national funds, two international loans and foreign investments, the Finance Minister reported. He lashed out at individuals and settlements and “important public institutions” who, he said, put their own interests above the state by trading in foreign currency. Debate on the bill will be continued next week.
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