مجموعة ٣٠/ ٢٢٤ "ترتيبات العملة في المشيخات العربية في الخليج الفارسي." [ظ‎‎٣‎٥] (١٥٧/٧٨)

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Control m tfae / erslan Gulf
(I) - I examined tiila question very ® n
lltical ls^de^ tne xoUtioal Agnate, bankers and merohants,
Trid^ .LrTOanies and the Bahrein iei-roleum Company. A. a
^^T^^^BBe diecussionPan. enqulrlee made, I have iormed
the ooinion tnat BxcSiange Control in ;viahrein and Kuwait ae
hLri^red b / the Political ieaider t and the political Agents
lucre nothing that X could find to cause
tL T^asury or th^ oank or .ngland undue worry. In view
of all tne complaints that one has heard in the past, this
oonclueion ;11 ay seem s> rpnalng. it la nevertheless true.
The coKDl&inta tii&t have been uade referred to a periou when
111 concerned with .**change Control U the ^heiichaoras .vere
ffranDlin^ with a highly technical suoject Ox which tney nal
previously very little imowledge. It as inevitable m these
circumstances th&t until these officers gained coxifidonee ^
derived from experience thei*e would be some delay ana therefore
s^»s cauU for ^ompleiuts. Cndcubtedly there were and are many
delavB largely because sotiie applications submitwe~t loiiuire
^fe^noe to Lndon, or, which is more often the case, through
shortage of staff caused from sickness or leave {on inis matter
see Chapter V below). But with experience ar^ too cars with ^
which the authoritiee at home have explained the principles
working of Kxcn&nge Control and to their wisdom i-i giving as
much latitude as possible to tue Political Resident, the
admiaietration of Exchange Control in the Gulf hat progressively
improve*. So much so, I could not find one single person
wherever I have been in the Gulf, who had a complaint to make
on the present administration of Exchange Control. On the
contrary bankers, particularly, expressed themselves as
satisfied. In no single case did they suggest a possible
improvement. Nor did they ask for greater latitude for the
banka, believing that each bank would interpret differently t,he
instructions giveii to them. In one case (see para, (e) para. II
below) a change in policy wa^ suggested but that is another
matter. Kven the merchants had no complaints to make on the
score of administration. I am satisfied that whatever
justification there xary h$ v© been for dissatisfaction during
the period for which Cord Kennet reported, it no longer exists.
I am of the opinion that the Political Avesident and the
Political Agents in the circumstances prevailing are doing a
satisfactory job for the Treasury and the Bank of England In
Exchange Control matters and given adequate staff, on which matter
I have something to say in Chapter V, they could improve on that
record, as the Political Resident has exprecsed hLAeelf as
satisfied with the Instruction and guidence he receives at
home I am making no recommendation in this respect.
(11/ (*; in Bahrein, notwithstanding the existence of a free
market, dollarr and other hard currencies are made available
from official sources for essential needs. I did not hear of
any complaint that essential needs were not being met. Oft
the contrary, Belgrave persistently advises against some
applications for hard currency, taking the line that in many
cases the imports for which hard currency is requested can ce
freely obtained from terliag sources or alternatively if imports
from sterling sources cannot be obtained, dollars or other hard
currency can he purchased in the local free market. The
Managers of the local branches of the Imperial bank of Iran
/and the