IOR/L/PS/12/3968A

The file concerns currency issues affecting the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, following the transfer of administrative responsibility from the Government of India to the Persian Gulf Residency in 1947. Under the new arrangements, responsibility for exchange control was vested in the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf.

The papers include: memoranda by India Office officials on the desirability of the continued use of the Indian rupee in the region (folio 297); the issue of which Gulf states were included in the Sterling Area; exchange control; policy on imports to the region; trade; the currency of Muscat and Oman, including the use there of Maria Theresa dollars; Kuwait as 'the centre of the whole Middle East for smuggling and illicit transactions in foreign currencies' (folio 120); and traffic in gold through Kuwait.

In addition to India Office (later Commonwealth Relations Office) correspondence and memoranda, the papers include correspondence from the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, the Bank of England, and HM Treasury.

The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.