Office of the Historian

Editorial Note

The summary table which follows contains the following headings: loans, property credits, and grants made to foreign countries between July 1, 1945 and December 31, 1948. The data presented here, while not identical to that presented in Foreign Relations, 1947, volume I, page 1027, is similar and comparable. Thus a figure for the value of the United States foreign assistance program 1948 may be arrived at by subtraction. This table is adapted from the National Advisory Council on International Monetary and Financial Problems, Semiannual Report to the President and to the Congress: October 1, 1948–March 81, 1949 (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1949), which contains supporting tables providing a more detailed breakdown of the summary figures incorporated here. The Economic Report of the President Transmitted to the Congress: 1949 (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1949), page 133 provides a summary table listing foreign; aid by types of aid granted.

The various components included in the table below may be defined as follows: Loans—Many represent “cash loans” anticipating repayment in cash, of principal plus interest. Economic Cooperation Administration loans, extended to the European Recovery Program participants on a credit basis, originated in commitments made by the Administrator, but most of the loans were made by the Export-Import Bank as agent for the Economic Cooperation Administration. Commitments or authorizations approved by the Board of Directors of the Export-Import Bank which had not been formalized by credit agreements, are also included in this loan category, as are the loans of agent banks fully guaranteed by the Export-Import Bank.

Property credits—These represent aid to foreign governments in the form of credits extended in (a) the disposal of surplus property including merchant ships (b) settlement for “lend-lease” articles and; services, and (c) commodity credit used to finance raw material shipments to occupied areas for manufacture and export. All of the above extensions of credit anticipated repayment of principal and in most cases of interest. Property credit figures represent estimates subject to renegotiation.

Grants—These represent aid to foreign governments for which no [Page 960] repayment was expected. In addition to the funds furnished by the Economic Cooperation Administration to the European Recovery Program, and to the Chinese assistance program, this category also includes relief, civilian supplies, “lend-lease”, and others. Relief included supplies, services, and funds furnished directly by the United States Government, or indirectly through international or national agencies. Relief also included funds and goods given through UNRRA, post-UKRRA Relief, Interim Aid, the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees, the International Childrens Emergency Fund, the International Refugee Organization, and the governmental component of American Red Cross aid.

Civilian supplies included the value of incentive materials provided Germany and Japan; civilian supplies furnished by the United States Army to occupied areas (including Italy) to alleviate disease and unrest; and the issue of supplies by the United States Navy in the Pacific Islands.

“Lend-lease” included only such aid as was furnished on a grant basis. Among the programs included in the other grants category were aid in cultural and economic programs for the American Republics; and financial aid provided to China, Greece, Turkey, and to the Philippines. In general, grants were made to rehabilitate national economies to the level of self-sufficiency for minimum needs, whereas relief funds were expended to sustain life and to prevent economic and physical retrogression.

Summary of U.S. Government Foreign Credits and Grants: Utilized, July 1, 1945, to December 31, 1948; and Unutilized as of December 31, 1948, by Area and Country

(in millions of dollars)

[Page 961]
Area and Country Grand Total Credits Plus Grants Utilized Plus Unutilized
Utilized Unutilized Loans Property Credits Grants
Total, All Areas 26,522 20,139 6,383 8,628 3,387 14,507
Total, Europe 19,453 15,407 4,046 6,796 2,605 10,052
Total, ERP Participants 17,859 13,845 4,014 6,633 2,282 8,944
 Austria 591 441 151 14 22 555
 Belgium and Luxembourg 442 299 143 182 49 211
 Denmark 133 56 77 45 10 78
 France 3,481 2,785 695 1,370 827 1,284
 Germany (western) 2,487 1,781 707 24 221 2,243
 Greece 1,100 841 258 15 121 964
 Iceland 6 2 4 2 (*) 4
 Ireland 77 (*) 77 60 ----- 17
 Italy 1,901 1,423 477 181 243 1,476
 Netherlands 806 446 359 300 103 403
 Norway 181 102 79 85 47 49
 Sweden 35 4 31 12 ----- 23
 Switzerland 2 2 ----- ----- ----- 2
 Trieste 28 21 7 ----- ----- 28
 Turkey 237 99 138 66 16 155
 United Kingdom 5,956 5,378 578 4,095 622 1,238
Unallocated ERP 397 164 233 182 215
Total, Other Europe 1,594 1,562 32 163 323 1,108
 Albania 20 20 ----- ----- ----- 20
 Czechoslovakia 213 213 ----- 22 8 183
 Finland 140 111 28 101 36 2
 Hungary 18 18 ----- ----- 16 2
 Poland 443 442 1 40 38 365
 U.S.S.R 460 458 2 ----- 224 236
 Yugoslavia 300 300 1 299
Total, Latin America 515 317 199 438 44 33
 Bolivia 21 18 3 19 ----- 2
 Brazil 118 82 36 97 16 5
 Chile 86 39 47 82 ----- 4
 Colombia 39 19 20 37 1 1
 Cuba 11 11 ----- 10 ----- (*)
 Ecuador 16 7 9 14 (*) 2
 Haiti 7 2 4 4 (*) 2
 Mexico 138 89 49 132 ----- 6
 Peru 8 8 1 (*) 5 2
 Uruguay 10 10 1 7 2 1
 Venezuela 6 3 3 5 ----- 1
Other Latin America 10 8 3 4 (*) 6
Unallocated Latin America 45 21 23 24 19 2
Total, Asia 4,498 3,629 869 205 547 3,746
 China 1,892 1,643 249 99 146 1,648
 India 15 15 ----- ----- 15
 Indonesia 67 67 ----- ----- 63 4
 Iran 39 21 18 ----- 39
 Japan 1,573 1,242 331 26 208 1,338
 Korea (southern) 299 214 86 ----- 25 274
 Pakistan 10 (*) 10 ----- 10
 Philippines 533 365 169 70 18 445
 Ryukyu Islands 35 35 ----- ----- ----- 35
 Saudi Arabia 14 14 ----- 10 2 2
 Siam 10 6 4 ----- 10
Other Asia 11 7 3 11 (*)
 Canada 145 140 5 145
Total, Africa 39 28 11 10 328 1
 Egypt 18 13 5 7 11 (*)
 Liberia 16 12 4 ----- 16
Other Africa 5 3 2 3 2 (*)
Total, Oceania 17 17 13 5
 Australia 8 8 ----- ----- 8 (*)
Other Oceania 9 9 4 4
Unallocated, International Organizations 650 520 131 65 585
Unallocated, All Areas 1,204 82 1,123 970 150 85
  1. Less than $500,000. [Footnote in the source text.]↩
  2. Less than $500,000. [Footnote in the source text.]↩
  3. Less than $500,000. [Footnote in the source text.]↩
  4. Less than $500,000. [Footnote in the source text.]↩
  5. Less than $500,000. [Footnote in the source text.]↩
  6. Less than $500,000. [Footnote in the source text.]↩
  7. Less than $500,000. [Footnote in the source text.]↩
  8. Less than $500,000. [Footnote in the source text.]↩
  9. Less than $500,000. [Footnote in the source text.]↩
  10. Less than $500,000. [Footnote in the source text.]↩
  11. Less than $500,000. [Footnote in the source text.]↩
  12. Less than $500,000. [Footnote in the source text.]↩