At At September 30, September 30, 1922 1923 Debt I Million lire Million lire Consolidated 44,45 1 44,446 Redeemable 4,9 15 4,862 Long-term bonds 7,499 11,033 Ordinary bonds 24,57° 24, 1631 Other advances 410 548 Total internal debt 81,845 85,052 External debt, in gold lire 2 I ,81 I g. Budget Deficits. The apologists for Fascism have spread the fable that only the Fascist Government "had succeeded in bringing the State budge.t within sight of balancing, by bringing the deficit down with a rush from the many milliards of past years to the very few of the current year. '' The truth is that the approach to balancing preceded Fascism, and was in large part the consequence of the cessation of the extraordinary expenditure due to the war. When this is taken into account it is at once clear, as the following table shows, that the Fascist Government has made and is making very little improvement over 1921-22. 1 This reduction, by means of the issue of long-term bonds, was begun by the preceding Government, which had reduced the figure by nearly tw·o milliards, from 26,837 milliards on April 19, 1922, to the figure shown above. During the early months of 1922, moreover, the Bonomi and Facta Governments reduced the interest on the annual bonds from 6 to 5 per cent., realising an economy of over 200 millions a year. No reduction has so far been announced by the Fascist Government, despite the boasted improvement in conditions and the reduced needs of the State. Biblioteca Gino Bianco 7
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