MONEY AND CREDIT

1001

The total coinage from 1862 to the end of 1911 was : gold, 428,516,970 lire; silver, 589,484,819 lire; nickel, 37,247,600 lire; bronze, 83,903,949 lire; total, 1,139,153,338 lire, exclusive of re-coinage.

The nominal value of the money coined (including recoinage) : —

—

Gold

Silver Nickel

Bronze

Lire

4,600

116,689

170,458

47,785

262,543

602,075

Total

1907 1908 1909 1910 1911

Lire 1,000,000

Lire Lire

10,962,724 1 — 6,677,358 , 2,863,000 3,474,800 1 3,856,000 6,962,012 4,377,400 3,309,620 , 2,734,200

Lire

10,967,324 9,657,047 7,501,258

11,387,197 7,366,363

1,000,000 31,446,514 13,830,000

46,879,189

By law of July 22, 1894, gold and silver (5-franc pieces '900 fine) were temporarily withdrawn from circulation, being represented by paper. On August 31, 1912, the actual currency consisted of 495,875,805 lire of State notes, 2,148,477,800 lire of bank notes, and about 100,000,000 lire of copper and nickel coin.

There is no national bank in Italy. According to the law of August 10, 1893, there are only three banks of issue : the Banca d' Italia, the Banco di Napoli, and the Banco di Sicilia. Assets and liabilities of those banks on December 31, 1911 :—

—

Assets

—

Liabilities

Cash and Reserve i

Bills ....

Anticipations

Credits ....

Deposits

Various securities .

Lire

1,590,646 966 934,806,020 161,931,027 144,509,757

2,750,093,024 506,231,887

Capital .... Notes in circulation Accounts current, &c. . Titles and valuables

deposited . Various ....

Total .

Lire 302,000,000 2,193,381,850 355,688,026

2,750,093,024 487,055,781

Total .

6,088,218,081

6,088,218,681

1 Reserve in gold, in silver, and in equivalent bonds (1,569,062,575) : Gold, 1,268,068,968 lire; bills of exchange on foreign countries, foreign bank-notes, treasury bonds, &c., 175,214,39s lire ; silver (-900 fine), 120,805,220 lire ; fractional silver, 4,973,909 lire.

On March 3, 1912, a bill was passed making the business of life insurance in Italy a State monopoly.

On January 30, 1911, there were 862 co-operative credit societies and popular banks, 1,140 rural banks, 207 ordinary credit companies, and 5 agrarian credit institutions, and (January, 1912) 11 credit foncier com- panies, of which 4 were in liquidation, with 674,722,625 lire of ' cartelle fondiarie' in circulation, and with 607,409,177 lire of 'mutui con ammorta- mento. '

The following table gives statistics of the savings banks at the end of 1911 : —

—

Offices

Depositors

Total Deposits

Deposits Repayments during year during year

Post-office savings-banks i 9,608 Ordinary ,, ,, 185

5,777,206 2,307,408

Lire

1,872,712,746 2,462,635,218

Lire Lire 934,619,165 835,152,898

1,125,630,47211,058,513,537