Bank for International Settlements

Extract

The twenty-sixth annual report of the Bank for International Settlements was published on June II, 1956. In its survey of the year April 1, 1955—March 31, 1956, the report declared that the most important feature of 1955 was that the effect of an economic boom in North America had been superimposed on the powerful forces for expansion operating in western Europe. There was a definite need, however, for measures which would moderate the boom without weakening the forces tending to promote healthy economic growth. For this reason, direct internal or external controls had not been reapplied by the authorities and trade had been further liberalized, while restrictions on foreign payments had also been further relaxed. There had been a continuation of flexibility in credit policies pursued by the authorities who had employed methods of credit restraint, such as increased interest rates.