IOR/R/15/2/468

This file concerns the circulation of currency between Saudi Arabia, the Persian Gulf and India. The file contains correspondence between the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf at Bushire; the Political Agent at Bahrain; Charles Dalrymple Belgrave, Advisor to the Government of Bahrain; C W F Skrimshire and M Gunn, the Eastern Bank Limited, Bahrain; Yousuf bin Ahmed Kanoo [Yūsuf bin Aḥmad Kānū]; the Residency Agent, Sharjah. There is also correspondence from the India Office and the Government of India, which has been forwarded to the Political Agent by the Political Resident.

The correspondence for 1935-36 (ff 3-21) concerns the import of large quantities of Indian rupees into Saudi Arabia via the port of Jedda and Persian Gulf ports, due to the Saudi government’s preference of paying officials and tribal subsidies in rupees instead of dollars. The essence of this situation is explained in a report by Loch, entitled 'Note on the Rupee-Maria Theresa Dollar position in Najd, Hasa and Bahrain', sent to the Political Resident on 3 March 1936. The correspondence for 1939-40 (ff 22-49) concerns further abnormal exports of rupees from Bahrain to Kuwait and Hassa (al-Aḥsā’) due to a lack of confidence in the stability of the Saudi Arabian riyal as a result of the Second World War; also discussed is the possibility of an embargo being placed on the export of rupees from India to Saudi Arabia and the impact that that would have on the Trucial Coast states and Qatar. The final section of correspondence for the year 1944 (ff 50-55) concerns a request from ‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd (Ibn Saud) for the British government to send senior military and financial experts, preferably Sunni Muslims, to Saudi Arabia to aid the establishment of an army and reorganise the financial structure of the state.