BELGIUM: Belga

Belgians began suddenly last week to think in belgas. Overnight King Albert, by royal decree, proclaimed the creation of a new monetary unit, the belga, worth exactly five Belgian paper francs and exactly .209211 grams of gold.

The royal decree amounted, of course, to stabilizing the Belgian paper franc at .041842 grams of gold, or (at present rates of exchange) 36 francs to the dollar. This was accomplished by floating a $100,000,000 international loan (see p. 35) with the proceeds of which the Bank of Belgium will support the belga (i.e. the paper...

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