LETTER:Countries that use another's currency

From Mr H. J. Walton Masters

Sir: Both Teresa Gorman of the witless group and Brian Mawhinney were unable to name an independent nation that did not have its own currency. Andorra is one very successful small nation that has no currency of its own. It uses both Spanish pesetas and French francs.

Hong Kong, although it is not fully independent, only nominally has its own currency. The Hong Kong dollar is tied to the US dollar and any fluctuations are taken care of by the Hong Kong dollar interest rates.

Hong Kong has one of the most successful economies with a huge balance of payments surplus and reserves.

Yours faithfully,

H. J. Walton Masters

Bristol

5 July