Abstract:

In the early post-war period, the internal economic structure of the British Empire was not in line with the economic strategy of the United States, and the British economy plunged into a prolonged balance of payments deficit, leading to frequent pound crises. While seeking economic assistance from the United States, Britain took a series of steps within the Commonwealth to cope with the pound crisis. By developing colonial resources and implementing the “non-US Dollar plan”, colonial income was linked to balanced international payments, and the Commonwealth’s imports from the US dollar area were strictly controlled. The UK, along with Australia, Canada and other countries, provided long-term economic and technological assistance to Commonwealth countries in South Asia and Southeast Asia, followed by the United States and non-Commonwealth countries in the region. This was known as the Colombo Plan. Confidence in the pound began to recover from the early 1950s, and the international payments of the Commonwealth tended to be balanced.

WU Leman is a postdoctoral researcher of Capital Normal University. Her research is mainly about Cold War international history. 

Published on Economic and Social History Review, Issue 1, 2024.