Swing (economy)

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Swing ( English room ) is a line of credit , the two countries in international trade for the mutual settlement of export claims and import liabilities grant.

General

The swing is the subject of reciprocal trade relations between states. As a rule, mutual exports and imports are paid for in foreign currency . With Swing, the payments resulting from exports and imports are not made directly through foreign exchange, but offset against each other within the swing line (credit line) in the manner of a current account, so that a balance remains in favor of one or the other country. A swing only makes sense if exports and imports are approximately in equilibrium over the long term . In the case of structural imbalances, this leads to a one-sided, permanent negative balance from import surpluses, which in the importing country can lead to devaluation pressure on its currency . A negative balance can then only be offset by foreign currency payments from the importing country. Usually, however, the swing was agreed between countries in which at least one did not have a convertible currency or suffered from foreign exchange shortages.

The swing is the content of bilateral trade agreements in which the specific conditions of the swing are specified. The contractual partners of Swing can request a balance settlement in foreign exchange or gold at a certain point in time . The swing is a foreign trade tool that can promote a country's export or import.

history

The swing became particularly important in trade between the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR, which was poor in foreign currencies . There had already been a swing in interzonal trade since 1951 (30 million  DM ) as a time margin for settling balances . In September 1953 the contractually regulated compensation trade between the GDR and France began, in which France granted the GDR a swing of 300,000 US dollars. Almost ten months after the Wall was built, in March 1962 the GDR asked the FRG for a swing of 3.1 billion DM, which did not materialize. From mid-1962 the FRG demanded a balance adjustment so that the one-sided and constant exploitation of swing by the GDR would end. According to the agreements made, the deficit balance was to be offset by the GDR with foreign exchange (“convertible currency”). The Mittelbayerische Zeitung speculated on August 13, 1968 that the swing of 200 million DM, in view of the “basic structure of this trade, would hardly be suitable measures” to “give more momentum” to the economic relations between the two states. On December 6, 1968, a new swing agreement with a term until December 31, 1975 was concluded. In 1973 the swing was already DM 620 million. Since the swing loans were granted interest-free, the loss of income for the federal budget at the 1973 interest rate was around DM 77 million.

In 1982 the GDR recorded a cumulative import surplus of 25.1 billion DM, so that further imports were hardly possible. During his visit to the GDR on July 24, 1983, the then Bavarian Prime Minister Franz Josef Strauss agreed with Erich Honecker to increase the swing when the GDR was in an acute economic crisis, which also resulted from the balance of payments. This was an interest-free overdraft line granted by the FRG to the GDR via the Deutsche Bundesbank in the amount of DM 850 million for the handling of domestic German trade. The swing made it possible for the GDR to continue imports from the West, which otherwise would not have been possible due to a lack of foreign currency. This swing had become necessary because West German commercial banks were no longer willing to take on further export credits for the GDR. According to the plans, the swing gradually decreased, namely in 1984 to 690 million DM and in 1985 to 600 million DM. In February 1985, this framework was only used with 90 million DM. and ended with the turning point in 1990.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Gabler Banklexikon , 1988, Sp. 1984
  2. ^ GDR loan - over the wall . In: Der Spiegel . No. 22 , 1962, pp. 21st f . ( online ).
  3. ^ The GDR's request for a trade credit from 1962 . Federal Agency for Civic Education , July 25, 2012
  4. Monika Kaiser: Documents on Germany Policy: Series 6 , Volume 3. 2005, p. 549
  5. Mittelbayerische Zeitung , August 13, 1968, p. 3
  6. a b Also cash . In: Der Spiegel . No. 51 , 1973, p. 19 ( online ).
  7. ^ Special publication The Balance of Payments of the former GDR 1975 to 1989 . Deutsche Bundesbank, August 1999, p. 60
  8. Billion injection for the wall builder . someday
  9. Gabler Banklexikon , 1988, Sp. 1987
  10. Neues Deutschland , June 20, 1982, p. 2
  11. Failed . In: Der Spiegel . No. 18 , 1985, pp. 113 ( online ).