Bank for International Settlements

The twenty-third annual report of the Bank for International Settlements was made public in June 1953. In reviewing economic developments during the period of April 1, 1952, to March 31, 1953, the report noted that, despite the initial dislocations resulting from the Korean conflict, there had been real progress since 1952 towards economic and financial balance and a normal course of domestic and international economic development. More specifically, the report noted that: 1) the upward trend in world-market prices had been reversed, and the course of domestic inflation halted in most countries; 2) during 1952 and the early months of 1953 there was an improvement in the balance of payments position of the non-dollar world; 3) monetary reserves had recovered in a number of countries during the same period; 4) the aggre-gate amount of net deficits (and net surpluses) in the settlements of the European Payments Union had contracted from an average of $207 million per month in 1951 to $102 million by the last quarter of 1952 and the first quarter of 1953; and 5) there had been many signs of increased confidence in various currencies, notably an increased firmness of their free market quotations.