Agreement was announced here today on a $59,500,000 schedule of commodities and services which the West German Government will furnish Israel and the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany during the fiscal year beginning April 1, under terms of the German-Israel reparations agreement. The agreement was reached following negotiations between experts from each side who make up the German-Israel mixed commission.
The agreement was signed by Dr. F. E. Shinnar, head of the Israel Purchasing Mission, and Baron von Mahs, of the Bonn, Ministry of Economics. The type and quantity of deliveries for the coming year will show few major changes from the pattern set in the fiscal year now drawing to a close. As in the past two years, Germany has made use of an “escape clause” in order to limit the amount available for reparations purchases during the twelve-month period to the $59,500,000 mark–the rock bottom minimum–whereas the reparations treaty envisages $73,800,000 as the normal anneal rate payment.
Since the ratification of the reparations pact in 1953, Germany has furnished a total of $214,000,000 in reparations goods. The Israel Government has transmitted to the Claims Conference the agreed share of this total. The twelve months beginning April 1 are, technically, the fifth year of the reparations accord. If Germany, whose economy is now in a state of unprecedented boom, should increase future installments to $73,800,000 per year–the stipulated normal rate in the agreement–all the goods will have been delivered by 1964. If, on the other hand, she continues to discharge her obligations at the present minimum rate of $59,500,000 per year, the shipments will run until 1956.
The equivalent of nearly $18,000,000–not quite one third the overall amount-has been earmarked once again for petroleum products shipped to Israel from sterling bloc countries and paid with German-owned sterling balances deriving from export surpluses. The remaining $41,500,000 will be employed principally in the purchase of raw materials, manufactured goods and agricultural products, with certain sums covering services such as insurance, freight, and administrative costs. Considerably more than half this total will go for long-range investment goods, and about 40 percent for semi-manufactured or consumer goods.
Interviewed by the JTA, Dr. Shinnar expressed regret that the German negotiators had not acceded to the Israeli request to increase the annual installment to $73,800,000, the normal rate set by the original accord. He pointed out, however, that the text of the agreement permits Germany to reduce the sum to $59,500,000 unilaterally. He acknowledged that the costs of reparations purchases had increased during the past year, but emphasized that this was in line with the general price movement in world markets. He also noted that, in the negotiations, the German-Israel mixed commission had brought about certain simplifications in ordering and shipping procedures.
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