Official gold sales in the Middle East for the express purpose of combating inflation were inaugurated in Iran in June 1943; in Iraq, Palestine, Trans-Jordan, Syria, and the Lebanon in August 1943; and in Egypt in November I943. Official sales were discontinued in June 1944 in all of the above countries with the exception of Iran where they were continued into the fall of I944. Official gold sales in Bombay, India, began in August 1943 and were continued until April I945.2 Just how effective gold sales in the Middle East and India have been is difficult to determine. Nowhere have the proceeds from such sales accounted for more than a fraction of the