Since it was admitted by Chinese banking circles that the Stabilization Committee in Hongkong had limited the sale of foreign exchange in Shanghai at the request of Chungking and that the motive behind the move was to secure "more adequate redistribution of foreign exchange allotments", it was said to be only natural that further restrictions in the foreign exchange market would be regulated. The other possibility may therefore be the limitation of importation of more foreign goods.
It will be recalled in this connection that Chinese authorities have already limited the importation of many foreign "luxuries" ordering people to use as many native goods as possible, and as a result prices of many foreign goods, especially of medicines, have jumped up. Apart from this restriction the Central Bank of China, the only institution which was allowed to grant foreign exchange allotments, was ordered not to make such grants commencing January 1 of this year.
But merchants still have been obruining their foreign exchange from what is termed the "black foreign exchange market." Chinese banking circles were unable to answer the question whether or not the recent foreign exchange restrictions laid Rora by third-party banks in Shang-were in compliance with the Chinese order.
A check with the Shanghai office of the Central Bank of China revealed that bona fide merchants could still obtain their quota of foreign exchange but the rule does not apply to foreign goods ordered after January 1 of this year. In the latter case special permission must be obtained from the Chinese government,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.