1.
GV New York city street scene
0.03

2.
SV TILT DOWN People in a out of exchange office
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3.
GV & SV People queuing at counter
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4.
SV Teller counting money
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5.
MV Girl with travellers' cheques
0.24

6.
SV Teller sorting money & people at counter
0.40

7.
SV Exchange official on telephone
0.46

8.
CU Teller counting money
0.51



Initials SGM/2208 SGM/2131


T/RECORDING

Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: American tourists in New York, seeking to exchange dollars for European currencies in anticipation of their holidays abroad, found that exchange rates were much higher as a result of new American finance policies.

One exchange in New York had sold over a quarter of a million dollars worth of foreign currency in four days, and on Thursday (19 August) had to air freight currency from Italy, Spain, Denmark and Portugal.

SYNOPSIS: One of New York's biggest foreign currency exchanges in the Rockefeller Centre has been crowded with money buyers since president Nixon announced the new financial measures. People about to go overseas are aware that some foreign banks and hotels will not honour the dollar and so they are buying their money here.

In four days, this company has exchanged more than a quarter of a million dollars worth of currency. By Thursday afternoon, they had run out of Italian, Spanish, Danish and Portuguese currencies. More paper money and coins were being air freighted into New York as fast as possible as the buyers were finding that from Europe's point of view, the dollar is not worth what it used to be....most of the European exchange rates are down as much as 15 per cent.