May 31, 1953
GEORGE PAPANDREOU: One of the leaders of the Liberal Party, Mr George Papandreou, made the following statements yesterday: «(…) We predicted that the victims of the poorly thought-out monetary reform would be the farmers, the producers of domestically consumed products and the lower income groups generally. We had stated that the devaluation of the drachma would lead to a devaluation of labor. And that is what has, in fact, happened. Our predictions have been absolutely confirmed. The low price of wheat has had a serious effect on farmers, while the major increase in the price of bread has affected the lower income groups, wage earners in particular. The celebratory fireworks that accompanied the Greek Rally Party’s announcements have now been extinguished and dark days have arrived as they face indignation within Parliament.» CURRENCY MARKET: The trend of rising prices in the gold sovereign (323,000-324,000 drachmas) market over the previous week has continued this week, despite the prevailing unavailability of ready money. This upward trend is mainly due to the purchase of sovereigns with drachmas obtained from the sale of US dollars at the Bank of Greece. Many of these dollars have been imported from abroad. (…) This inflow is obviously due to the readjustment of the drachma.
