مجموعة ٣٠/ ٢٢٤ "ترتيبات العملة في المشيخات العربية في الخليج الفارسي." [و‎‎٣‎٧] (١٥٧/٨١)

3
£xportB oi dates to liidi&f the rupee proceeds beiii^g
reraittad to / tiwait where tuey \wei*e exchanged for
sterling*
4 # Gold held by Xx^aq aod exported to India.
^acidentally, the j ai.:ra bauiiex*b and ;iierchants coraplaiu biuterly
of the business that it by-passing thei.i through the fact that
Kuwait has no restrictions whatever on the transfer of sterling
whereas Ira<i permite sterling traiisfers only for permittted
transactions*^ It is feared in aura tuat tiie Iraq Government
will soon requisition all private holdings of sterling and
sterling secux'ities.
(IV) /unuaGO request for Conversion of rupee balance with
.ua s te rn daiiK. i >a are in *
(a) s>oon after ir»y arrival in i>anrein f tue political
itesident acquainted me with toe request of for the
conversion into dollars of their rupee balance with the eastern
Bank and informed me taat the request had oeen >assed to London
for decision. X toox early opportunity or uiscussii^ this case
with the Manager or tlie western bank, banrem, and 1 leamad
sufficient at tixat int^rviev. to suggest to the political
Kesident that no action should be tahen on request
until I was in a position to give you the facts* fhe facts
are as follows
(by Prom the 1st May, 1947» to the 30th April f 1948,
Ai^AMGO remitted to the astern bank, x>ahx*ein, ns. 88^ laxhs.
These i*upces were obtained by so it is alleged, by the
sale of dollars to official sources* To the end of ^pril, 1948 ,
they area He* 48 lakhs in cash and he. 33 i It -no in c. ecues
against their account leaving a balance of ,,s. 7 lakhs* oince
that date, by payments into -he account they nave built up
their balance to roughly fs. 40 lakhs. f this t lount, ..s* 13
lakhs will be remitted to no«ibay* .’he balance of .&• 23 laxhs
they wish converted into dollars, claiming that they have already
sold dollars for rupees to approved dealers for more than this
amount*
(c) They have required rupees in Dhahran where for &
time they paid their employees in rupees and also for local
expenditure in nahrein* ^ne would, expect fre-a this that their
rupee balance in the absence of fresh remittances *ould steaaily
diminish - in if ct it aid so up to Uie end of pril, 1948*
hince trien, however, their ruppee balance tias ceeu increasing
notwithstanding the fact tnat their rupee expenditure - certainly
in aarein - uas c ^iiuued,
(d) The question arises, whence ctuae the rupees paid
into this Bank since the end of npril 1948? It is xnown that for
a considerable period the AkiutCO issued dollar pay cheques to
its employees* ihese wex*e sold on tne Bahrein free market
for rupees and something better the official i v ate was
obtaiimed* The'rupees purchased by employees in tills «*ay were
then paid into their account witn who r^-sold them
dollars at i-he official aollar-rupee rate. lueratlve
practice - lucrative from the employees point of view -
continued for some months* There is no doubt that jtii bt&flftQO
accujnulated rupees in this way and ixave paid thaa into their
account with the da stern i»ank, Bahrein* Tue ^iactice, however,
has been stop.ed* AiGiMCO does not now give dollars for rupees
paid in by the employees.
* The cliche one hears in asra let
Kuwait is not being , ciueite , Kuwait I