International trade and payments

For the first time in post-war years, an export surplus for the region as a whole re-emerged in 1950. This marked a new phase of development in international trade after the war. Before the war, there was normally an export surplus. In the earlier post-war period, however, there had been a growing import surplus up to 1948. This post-war import surplus, only slightly reduced in 1949, exercised great pressure on the foreign-exchange reserves of countries in the region and various exchange and trade controls were reinstituted or tightened. A shortage of dollars was also felt by almost all countries in the region. The growing import surplus during the early post-war period was incurred at an increasing level of imports and exports. But trade levelled off in 1949, as extraordinary post-war demands had been largely satisfied, foreign-exchange reserves depleted, and import demands of the United States decreased owing to the economic recession in that country. This led to a tightening of import control in some countries and to devaluation in most countries in the region, led by the devaluation of sterling.

Sustainable Development Goals:

Decent Work and Economic Growth

Reduced Inequalities