GREECE. The loans contracted in this country by the Greek Government are as under : 1833, 2,343,750, guaranteed by England, France, and Russia, in equal portions. The interest on the whole of these loans, which are in bonds, is 5 per cent.; but no dividend has been paid upon the first since July, 1826; and upon the second since July, 1827. The interest upon the last is regularly paid on the 1st of March and 1st of September, and a certain portion of the bonds are annually redeemed by the sinking fund. The following extract from the finance budget for 1836 is taken from the Morning Herald, of the 9th of March, 1837 :— The value of a Greek drachma is ninepence English, so that the amount of income would be about £616,700, and the expenditure the same. It is stated that the revenues of Greece are increasing, and that a project is on foot for the liquidation of the loans contracted in this country in the years 1824 and 1825. GUADALAXARA. In 1825 a loan of £600,000 was contracted at 60 per cent., in London, for Guadalaxara, a Mexican state; it is now almost unknown upon the Stock Exchange. GUATEMALA. The loan for the republic of Guatemala, or Central America, was contracted in 1825, at 73 per cent.; it was proposed that the sum raised should be £1,428,571 8s., but only about £167,000 of the bonds were taken. Interest was to be paid at the rate of 6 per cent., but none has been received by the bondholders since the 1st of February, 1828. The revenues of the republic are unequal to defray the expenses of government, an annual deficiency generally occurring of about 250,000 dollars. The income is derived from customs dues, averaging about 350,000 dollars annually, the tobacco monopoly yielding about 450,000 dollars, and some inconsiderable taxes: a very large portion of these receipts is absorbed by the expense of collection. The expenditure of the state amounts to the sum of 850,000 dollars per annum, of which 650,000 dollars are expended on the army. The domestic debt bearing interest amounts to about 2,500,000 dollars, and the outstanding claims upon the G treasury to about 1,000,000 dollars; a considerable sum is also due for arrears of interests, both upon the domestic and foreign debt. HOLLAND. The public debt of Holland is stated to amount to about 1,680,000,000 florins, or £140,000,000,* a large proportion of which is 2 per cent. stock, and should not therefore be valued at the amount of nominal capital; if this be taken into consideration, the amount of the debt will be much diminished. The division of the debt between the kingdoms of Holland and Belgium is not, I believe, yet settled between the two countries; the offer, on the part of Belgium, is, that two-thirds should be charged upon Holland, and one-third upon Belgium; but the former power refuses to accede to these terms. Since the Belgic revolution in 1830, the deficiency in the revenues of Holland has been annually increasing; the large army which has been kept up since that period, together with the charge of the entire debt of the Netherlands, has occasioned so considerable an increase in the expenditure of the state, that the receipts have been found insufficient to the extent of upwards of £3,000,000 annually; to meet these deficiencies the government has been obliged to raise several loans, by which the public debt of Holland has been considerably augmented. The whole of these loans have been raised in Holland, except a small amount of 2 per cents. (6,000,000 guilders, or £500,000), which was contracted with Mr. N. M. Rothschild, in 1831, the dividends on which * This was the amount of the public debt of the Netherlands, so that only a portion of it belongs properly to the kingdom of Holland, a part being chargeable upon Belgium. are payable in London at par: the bonds are in £ sterling of £100 each. The business transacted in the Dutch funds, in the English market, is usually in that portion of the debt raised in Holland, which is issued in bonds, principally of 1000 florins each, and is negotiated here at the fixed exchange of 12 florins per £ sterling. The dividends on the 2 per cent. bonds are payable on the 1st of January and 1st of July, and on the 5 per cents. the 1st of April and 1st of October, at the current rate of exchange. The dividends upon a part of the 5 per cent. loan, contracted in 1837, are payable in London, by Messrs. D. and I. Salomons, at the exchange of 12 guilders per £ sterling the net amount of each half-yearly coupon being 24.75, the value in sterling is £2 1s. 3d. The dividends are paid the 1st of April and 1st of October. |