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    "label": "Central Intelligence Group, Office of Reports and Estimates Report, Number 17, The International Economic Position of the United Kingdom",
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    "title": "Central Intelligence Group, Office of Reports and Estimates Report, Number 17, The International Economic Position of the United Kingdom",
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    "productionDates": [
        {
            "day": 31,
            "logicalDate": "1947-05-31",
            "month": 5,
            "year": 1947
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    "ocrText": "ORE 17\n31 May 1947\nCOPY NO.\n1\nTHE INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC\nPOSITION OF THE UNITED KINGDOM *\n3.\n'NATIONAL\n: ARCHIVES SERVICE* RECORDS AND\nSUMMARY\nFor more than a century the people of the British Isles have\nimported annually from the rest of the world more commodities than they have\nexported. Imports have contributed greatly to British standards of living\nand have provided many of the essential raw materials for the notable and\nexpanding industrial activity in that country during this period. This\ncommodity trade deficit was financed from current returns on foreign invest-\nments, returns from shipping and receipts for financial, insurance and other\ncommercial services. Up to the time of the First World War the returns from\nsuch investments and services were adequate not only to meet the deficit in\ncommodity trade but to provide in most years a balance for further foreign\ninvestment throughout the world by British agencies. During the century\npreceding the First World War, Great Britain was the leading international\ntrading country in the world, the greatest creditor, and continued to in-\ncrease its foreign investment position.\nDuring the decade following the Treaty of Versailles, economic\nactivity between the United Kingdom and other countries of the world\nappeared, on the surface, to be similar in many respects to that which pre-\nceded the War. The British continued to receive substantial returns from\ninvestments, shipping and commercial services. Net receipts on current\naccount, however, were substantially smaller than in the pre-war years and\nBritain's capacity to extend credits to foreign borrowers was substantially\ncurtailed. After 1930 the United Kingdom experienced a net credit in\ncurrent international payments in only one year, 1938. In general terms,\ntherefore, it is now clear that the First World War ended the period of\nactive expansion in Britain's creditor position.\nThe economic adjustments imposed by the circumstances in which the\npeople of the United Kingdom now find themselves following their tremendous\nexertions during a long and devastating war include both internal and inter-\nnational effects. Internal affairs are referred to in this report only\nbriefly in their relation to the international situation. Some of the\nprincipal international effects of economic changes in the United Kingdom in\nrecent years, particularly those of concern to the United States, are sum-\nmarized below:\n1. The United Kingdom no longer will serve as the\nsteadying influence upon world trade and finance to the ex-\ntent that it has for a century or more.\nThis report has the concurrence of the intelligence agencies of the War and\nNavy Departments and of the Army Air Forces. A statement of dissent by the\nDepartment of State is contined in Enclosure \"B\" hereto.\n- 1 -"
}