Sixth Annual Report on Exchange

Restrictions

On May 4, 1955, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (Rooth) transmitted to the Governors and members of the Fund the sixth annual report on exchange restrictions. In the third series of consultations on exchange restrictions, the Fund had consulted with 45 member governments under Article XIV, Section 2, of the Articles of Agreement. During the year reviewed, March 1954 to April 1955, the Fund reported further progress toward convertibility, although progresshad been more gradual and mainly by means of numerous relatively small measures of relaxation. There had been greater reliance on monetary and fiscal measures for coping with balance of payments problems, as contrasted with earlier reliance on restriction of foreign trade and payments; this shift in emphasis had made possible the introduction and operation of facilities for increased convertibility. Developments in the exchange and monetary field had, the report noted, focused attention on the problem of discrimination, especially in the form of bilateral agreements, and on the question of whether these arrangements were justified in a world in which there was a general trend toward multilateralism, convertibility and freedom from restriction. The period reviewed in the report was also marked by larger exchange allocations for various purposes and significant relaxation of discrimination against dollar payments. In addition, exchange controls had been simplified or their administration liberalized in a number of countries.