GREAT BRITAIN: Money in the Bank

Three years ago, in the disorder that followed the Suez invasion fiasco, Great Britain was faced with such a run on the pound sterling that it asked for and got $500 million in credit from the U.S. Treasury through the Export-Import Bank. But confidence in the pound was restored so quickly that only $250 million of the money was actually borrowed—on £300 million security posted by Britain, to be repaid at 4.5% in ten installments from 1960 to 1965. Last week, with Britain’s economic rebound having turned into a full-fledged boom, and the first favorable balance of trade with the U.S. since 1865 (TIME, Aug. 31), Chancellor of the Exchequer Derick Heathcoat Amory proudly announced in the House of Commons that Britain was immediately repaying all $250 million, plus $5,500,000 in interest, an impressive 5½ years ahead of schedule.