At week's end Paris announced that the Indo-China piaster would be devalued from 17 francs to the piaster down to a more realistic 10 francs, to put an end to the black-marketing .
The piaster, long ridiculously overvalued at a rate of 118 to the dollar, was pegged at a more realistic 275 last year; last week it was slashed further.
The piaster, officially valued at 118 to the dollar, draws a black-market price of 420.