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  4. Document 723

823.51/1303: Telegram

The Chargé in Peru ( Dreyfus ) to the Secretary of State

Lima , November 4, 1939—3 a.m.
[Received 8:13 p.m.]

93. The following numbered paragraphs refer to the same numbers in the Department’s telegram No. 66, October 31, 2 p.m.:

1.
Central Bank bulletin for September gives balance as of August 31 as follows: Intangible gold 38,784,832 soles; gold under article 28 law 7,538 at 6,921,479; legal reserve abroad 2,079,988; excess reserve in Peru in checks and securities 200,000; excess reserve abroad 879,638; funds held abroad 1,320,593. Total of reserves and funds held abroad 51,571,565. Rediscounts to associated banks 19,627,625. Total of loans and credits and discounts to the Treasury 121,321,374. Note circulation 121,645,230. Deposits 36,473,934. Manager of Banco Central confidentially stated note circulation increased to about 136,000,000 middle September and was 132,072,750 on October 28.
2.
The latest import and export statistics are for the period ending September 30. See E and T report No. 91 dated October 2617 and sent by air mail pouch of October 27.
3.
Earnings of American capital in this country are remitted principally in the form of commodity exports. Reference is made to the Consulate General’s report of September 29, 1938, on international balance of payments of Peru. Transfers of funds for the United States have been restricted by the high rate of exchange for dollars and the scarcity of dollar exchange. There is not sufficient accurate information obtainable to justify an estimate of the volume of transfer of interest and dividends and of capital movement. Additional background information will be sent by air mail despatch.
4.
Several estimates of the back-log of exchange accumulated from purely commercial transactions are as low as a million dollars but the Italian Bank on the basis of recent reports from other banks places the total at about 5,000,000. This does not include other funds waiting to be transferred such as the Electric Boat Company account.

Dreyfus
  1. Not found in Department files.↩