7^ 



INFORMATION RELATING TO CREDIT 



francs to 6.268,000 francs ; and the total sum of loans on merchandise, 

 both imported and exported, from 9,471.000 francs to 15,502,000 francs. 



As regards the total sum of loan and discount transactions, including 

 the negotiation of bills pn foreign countries, it passed from 21,082,290 

 francs in 1913-1914 to 39,795,400 francs in 1915-1916. 



French Guiana. - In Guiana the privileged bank which, owing to 

 the special economic situation of the colony, transacts business differenth/ 

 from the other colonial banks, has also very definitely faced existing cir- 

 cumstances only from the point of view of the public interest, a fact which 

 is sufficiently proved by the annual report drawn up by the governor of 

 the colonj^ on the general situation of Guiana, and reproduced in the Jour- 

 nal Officiel of the republic of 15 October 1915. We will quote from this 

 document only the following short extract : 



" The bank then decided to make advances to the producers on their 

 products of which there had thus come to be a slump, and to enable them 

 to continue work by ensuring the wages of the workpeople. 



" It should be realized that the bank made these advances on raw 

 products at the discount rate of 6 per cent, a year, which for the four months 

 which were the average term of the transactions, yielded a profit of 2 per 

 cent. 



" This rate should be considered very low for Guiana, where money 

 costs as much as 20 per cent. It would have been moderate even in France 

 where the rate of discount has latterly risen to as much as 9 per cent. 



" It should also be remembered that the goods pledged to the bank 

 had only a conventional value, that no one could foresee when it would 

 be possible to realize the value of these products which were security'' for 

 the loans. 



" It may be said that in undertaking these transactions, as in tak- 

 ing other opportune steps, the bank has been led above all b}- a broad 

 interpretation of its duty as a privileged establishment. 



" .... The bank took the point of view of the colon^^'s highest and 

 most general interest. Far from taking restrictive measures it enlarged 

 the scope of its transactions. It placed no obstacle in t-he way of the with- 

 drawal of deposited funds ; it provided the resources necessary for the con- 

 tinuation of industry ; it maintained its low rate of discount and reduced 

 the premium of its tirages in spite of the increased cost of exchange trans- 

 actions ". 



It appears from the reports of the Bank of Guiana that the figure 

 representing its loans on merchandise rose in 1914-1915 to 1,039,000 francs 

 as against 192,700 francs in 1913-1914 ; that is to say that the importance 

 of these transactions was ra.ultiplied by six. As regards the total sum of 

 the bank's transactions it reached 9,233,350 francs in 1913-1914, 9,995,310 

 francs in 1914-1915, and 12,402,830 francs in 1915-1916. 



Generally, credit has been granted by the banks of the old colonies 

 since the outbreak of hostilities on terms which are noticeably better than 

 those prevalent in France. Yet rates much higher than those obtaining in 

 Europe have always, notoriously, been considered normal in the colonies. 



