Chapter 930 Loan Arrived (1/2)

Chapter 930 Loan Arrived

From the reaction of the British government, they are likely to compromise with Australasia.

With only a week left before Churchill returned to London, the British government notified the Australasian ambassador to the UK to discuss the A$1 billion loan mentioned by Arthur.

According to the current exchange rate, A$1 billion is equivalent to 534.7 million pounds, which is close to one-third of the island's total GNP.

Seeing that the British are ahead so quickly, Arthur has to admire the economic scale of Britain and the countless wealth brought by its huge colonies.

According to the economic scale of Britain and Australasia, there should not be much difference in income between the two.

But in fact, the income of the British government is more than twice the annual fiscal revenue of the Australasia government. The A$1 billion loan is only the fiscal revenue of the British government for less than one year.

What caused such a huge gap in fiscal revenue between Britain and Australasia? Of course, it is Britain's vast colonies, such as India, Canada and South Africa.

According to the intelligence from Australasia in India, India's grain production last year exceeded 40 million cubic meters, which is an extremely terrifying number.

In contrast, the grain production in the UK is only one-tenth of that in India, and Canada's grain production is only about one-quarter of that in India.

Such a huge grain production brings almost innumerable income to the British. Just relying on such a developed grain production is enough to make India the most important colony of Britain.

Not to mention that India also has a huge population, other rich mineral resources, etc.

However, it is precisely because India has a large population that even if India's grain production exceeds 40 million cubic meters, it still cannot meet the grain consumption of the entire Commonwealth.

As a major grain exporter in the world, Australasia has also taken some advantages in this regard.

The population of Australasia remains at the same level as that of the UK, but the grain production of Australasia is close to eight times that of the UK.

According to the data summary of the agricultural department, in 1936, the total cultivated land area of ​​Australasia exceeded 49.25 million acres, which is a huge 199,000 square kilometers of land.

How exaggerated is the land area of ​​nearly 200,000 square kilometers? You know, the four major parts of the UK, namely England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, add up to less than 300,000 square kilometers.

The two largest parts, Scotland and Ireland, add up to a land area of ​​only over 200,000 square kilometers, which is almost the same as the land area of ​​Australasia.

Using land equivalent to half of the UK to grow crops is also the reason why Australasia's grain production continues to increase. After all, the vast land area is really arbitrary, and half of the UK's land is just a fraction of the land area of ​​Australasia.

The huge arable land area brings about a grain output that is simply unimaginable for ordinary countries. In 1936, Australasia's grain output reached an astonishing 31.575 million cubic meters, and the annual cumulative grain exports reached more than 14.5 million cubic meters.

Thanks to the fact that there are only more than 40 million people in the country, nearly half of Australasia's grain output is used for export, which has created the world's top three grain exporting countries.

At present, the income of farmers in Australasia is maintained at a level above the average annual income, and agricultural workers are still relatively popular.

However, due to the overall population limit, the growth of cultivated land is very slow. But this growth rate can match the population growth rate. For Australasia at present, there is basically no food shortage.

With more food production, the price of food will naturally decrease. Coupled with the extremely developed animal husbandry, people with high, medium and low incomes in Australasia can have enough food, which is also what Arthur thinks is the most important political achievement he has made in the past 30 years.

At least in Australasia at present, there is really no concept of starvation. As long as you are willing to work, you can get enough income from the Royal Relief Committee and various enterprises and factories to buy a large amount of cheap food.

Because there is a large amount of food exported every year, the price of food can be maintained at a level to ensure that the income obtained by farmers will not be too low.

How exaggerated is the food production in Australasia? According to the current agricultural department's estimate of the national per capita food consumption, the current food production of 31.575 million tons can basically ensure that 100 million people consume for more than one year.

Because the population of Australasia is less than 50 million, the current food production can ensure that the people of Australasia can eat for more than two years.

Coupled with the strategic food reserves, even if no food is produced within two years, the more than 40 million people in Australasia will not face famine.

Ambassador John to the UK quickly reported to Arthur the loan plan given by British capital.

Of the total A$1 billion loan, about A$690 million came from the British private sector. This part of the loan is a low-interest loan with a loan term of 15 years.

The remaining approximately A$310 million in loans came from the British government and the royal family, of which A$160 million was an interest-free loan and the remaining A$150 million was a low-interest loan with a loan term of 20 years.

Although he only received an interest-free loan of 160 million Australian dollars, Arthur was quite satisfied with the British solution. The loan can be used by the Australasian government without any restrictions.

Such conditions are better than the low-interest loans of many countries and capitals. France, which was famous for its loans before World War I, had many restrictions on their loans, one of which was that a certain part of the loan must be used to purchase industrial equipment and other materials in France.

These industrial equipment and materials will have a certain price increase compared to the market price, which is equivalent to the French making a lot of money in addition to the interest in the loan.

This is also the reason why the French loved loans before World War I. No matter which country they lent to, they could continue to create income for the French government.

In addition, the large-scale purchase of industrial equipment and materials from France by those borrowing countries has promoted the development of French industry and other industries.

The French were also intoxicated by the situation of good paper data, so they never returned on the road of lending.

From a historical perspective, France's actions did not make the country stronger, but made France lag behind other countries in the European hegemony.

If the huge capital could be invested in the development of domestic industry and technology, France might be stronger in World War I.

Because the total value of the loan of 1 billion Australian dollars comes from different banks, the overall interest calculation is also quite complicated.

Arthur does not need to pay attention to the interest calculation, he just needs to wait for the final interest calculation result.

According to the final interest results given by Ambassador John and British banks, Australasia needs to repay 123 million Australian dollars in interest for this 1 billion Australian dollar loan, plus the principal, a total of 1.123 billion Australian dollars needs to be repaid. Most low-interest loans have an interest rate of about 1%, and the British are not asking for too much. Among international loans between countries, the interest rate is indeed relatively low.

At Arthur's suggestion, Ambassador John formally signed the loan agreement. The loan with a total value of 1 billion Australian dollars will be transported to Australasia in various ways within half a year.

Most of the loans are in the form of pounds, and a small part is in Australian dollars and other currencies.

It doesn't matter to Australasia. Anyway, the pound is still the strongest currency in the world, at least before Australasia runs out of this money.

In fact, from the exchange rate between the British pound and the Australian dollar, it can be seen that the Australian dollar is slowly decoupling from the British pound. In the first 20 years of the Australian dollar's issuance, the exchange rate between the British pound and the Australian dollar has been stable at 1 to 2.

But since the gold standard was abolished by various countries, the fluctuations between the exchange rates of various currencies have been relatively large. Arthur did not force the Australian dollar and the British pound to continue to maintain an exchange rate of 2 to 1, but tried to reduce the influence between the two currencies as much as possible.

For Australasia, after this world war, it is definitely necessary to push the Australian dollar to the mainstream of the world currency.

After becoming the world currency, Australasia will be able to control the world economy by issuing the Australian dollar, just like the United States in later generations.

But there is a prerequisite for doing so, that is, to try to weaken the connection between the Australian dollar and the British pound. If the connection between the two currencies still exists, the British pound will still become the main currency after World War II, and even the Australian dollar cannot replace it.

With this fund, Arthur can be regarded as having money in his hands and he is not panicking.

Even if a large-scale war against the island country is launched next, this 1 billion Australian dollars can still allow Australasia to persist for at least 2 to 3 years.

As long as the island country is eliminated, a large amount of wealth in the island country will be divided up by Australasia. With the gains from exploiting the islanders, I believe there will be no problem in persisting in this war.

After the first batch of 72 million Australian dollars of funds from the British arrived, Arthur immediately signed the manufacturing plan for armaments.

In the next year, Australasia's military industry needs to manufacture at least 3.5 million rifles, 900 million rounds of bullets, 2,250 machine guns, 12,000 artillery pieces, 75 million rounds of artillery shells, 7,200 tanks and 4,250 aircraft.

In order to successfully manufacture these weapons and equipment within the expected time, the Royal Arsenal and other private military factories will also usher in a new round of expansion.

Even if the war against the island country does not use so many weapons, it can be used in the war against Europe later. Besides, Britain and France also need a large amount of weapons and equipment for their war against Germany, and weapons and equipment will not worry about sales in this war.

In addition to the construction of weapons and equipment, Arthur also signed a plan to expand the navy.

In the year from mid-1937 to mid-1938, Australasia is expected to build 3 aircraft carriers, 6 heavy cruisers, 7 destroyers, 12 light cruisers and 36 submarines.

Only when the navy and air force are strong together, Australasia will have the strength to compete for the throne of world hegemony after the end of World War II.

More importantly, if you want to take over the position of world hegemony from the British, you must have a fleet size that can threaten the Royal Navy.

At present, in terms of the overall size of the navy, Australasia is far less than the size of the British fleet. But if you compare the comprehensive combat effectiveness of the main battleships, Australasia actually still has an advantage.

After all, aircraft carriers are too powerful for old battleships, which is a fact that has been confirmed in naval battles.

In addition to the naval battle in which the island nation attacked the port of Hawaii, there are two small-scale naval battles in the current World War II battlefield, in which aircraft carriers have played a huge role.

The reason why the island nation's navy huddled in the port and dared not to go out is precisely because of this, because the powerful air force of Australasia has made the island nation's navy always face the pressure of a large number of aircraft.

In addition to signing the armament manufacturing plan, Arthur also formally signed the order to launch a large-scale attack on the island nation.

The official time for the attack on the island nation's mainland is July 21, 1937, which is one month later.

Arthur does not intend to continue playing with the island nation. According to the large-scale attack order signed by Arthur, Australasia will dispatch at least 3 million troops in total, of which the size of the Australasia army is as high as about 1.2 million.

The West Coast United Kingdom and the Kingdom of California have sent a total of about 100,000 troops, and this army will also join the battle against the island nation.

In addition, the Philippines sent 600,000 troops, and the Kalimantan United Sultanate sent more than 1.1 million troops, forming a powerful army of more than 3 million.

Of course, the only troops in this army that are truly capable of fighting are the 1.2 million regular troops of Australasia. The role of other troops is only one, that is, to make a feint attack on the front and distract the attention of the island army.

You know, although the island army claims to have more than 3 million, their elite troops are less than 1 million.

The remaining troops can only be barely qualified. Most of the Type C divisions have not completed their training so far, and some people have not even experienced target shooting training a few times.

It is obviously impossible for such an army to exert sufficient combat effectiveness. In addition to the leading position of the Australasia Navy and Air Force, it is enough to dispatch 1.2 million troops.

Counting the 300,000 troops deployed in Europe and the 200,000 troops in the North African battlefield, Australasia is expected to deploy nearly 1.7 million troops on the battlefield.

This is the war with the most regular troops since the founding of Australasia, which can also prove Arthur's attention to this war.

But then again, Arthur did take this war very seriously, but he definitely didn't take the island country seriously.

If the atomic bomb had not been exposed too early, it would have caused more problems. Only a few dozen atomic bombs would have been needed to destroy the faith of the island country.

Even if it was a little more cruel, the Australasian army would not have to land on the island country. It would only need to drop a large number of atomic bombs on important cities on the island country and try to use atomic bombs to activate the volcano of Mount Fuji, which would have put the entire island country in danger of extinction.