(UNTITLED)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84-00022R000200030015-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 29, 2001
• Sequence Number: 15
• Content Type: REPORT

This is a TEMPORARY !)OC MITY NT
~~~~-sQrease 2001/09/03 CIA-RDP84-000228000200030015-4
releaEsd to Naib anal Arch!:/via
under the HISTORICAL REVIEW Pl;DG7 .1
U N NGE m ' -ec a 'e"c3zzS yr'oIA by that wizard of finance,
The Indochinese piaster is considerably overvalued at present because
rih ne the franc.was devalued in 1949. Ex-
change rates, based on the Paris free-market franc, fix the piaster'skralue
at 20.5$ to the US dollar,, Itztaxwa hxbatxmc b,' 'n the black market .
ftdozm aaztxz tiyz exgmiftza nxz3 3mtfaKzxzx
Ordinary governmental expenses are borne by the adminisjraon at Saigon;
(I suppose this is Bao Dai &cie but I do not want anyone to believe I am com-
mitted to this Stan] those of the current military campaign by the French
treasury. Despite this and the fact that 3atgeizaas the Sa ?ri iias able to
collect 60% of its revenue from customs receipts 9IIII : (Presume the other 40%
ear-from the picking of pockets, but it does not say here?J th re was a deficit
of 241,0 ~Viasters in 1949 which had to be fi'aneed from reserve funds. Some
reduction in income was occasioned through the saw requirement that all ex-
This docu +t has been
approved for release thrbtvr jh
Oise taxes 'go toa separate state administrations. the 31 $TORICAL REVIEW FROG`,'+t of,
A, the Central. Intelligence Agency.
Of the 167 billion francs appropriated by the French for the, military
campaign 90 billion (5.29 billion piasters) spent in various ways in Indo-
China The zKsxtwf tam of the enormously increased purchasing power
brought about by *he FXEEEHZX expenditure of more money than had 'been in
Approved For Release 2001/09103 : CIA-RDP84-00022R000200030015
000047
 Approved For Release 2001/09/03 : CIA-RDP84-00022R000200030015-4
circulation was awztmRtzttcw to some extent minimized ' the, with-
drawal of new money in the form of c 'r,port of capital to France; ,
allotments and remittances to their native countries by members of the French
armed services) A2f
payments for French imports - conversion of profits
from black market and smuggling operations, (%),,,and ordinary flight of capital.
and lei h*-burden on the Fr -c
Attempts have been made to imporve the situation/K_ Xtxzzk=UX xi*za=
mxeztz*uk cbia coxsxtkazzmaxetzhexexbu txdmz*txtkixkxtkatzzaxsmsxmgzzomxgm
texfs through strict control of exchange transactions, but authorities
have been 3 11 unwilling to make a serious attempt at restricting piaatazmzxzx
2esx transfers from piasters to francs because of the dire economic and
political effects that would result in Indochina. (And now I suppose some-
one is going to ask me just what these dire results would be and why the
tranmfew between francs and piasters has anything to do with them. x`11 I can
say is that if you don't even know that much, you have no business reading
high-level papers like this in the first place,
xJ
(In addition to the alarming facts tk2X1 ---jam
from SR-40 that I have so faithfully transcribed above, there is a witty little
paragraphs about banks. I have not included this, partly because I could not
find any place to put it and partly because I dislike banks. We could say at
the and of the 'paper "The Bank of I dochina is Indoor, ' t balk and the
bank &P.Ir9a~~a~0~rt)~`-~g~~2t 0oVied.