The empire had two lopsided monetary pillars, the first being sterling based on gold supplied in large part from South Africa. The second was the Indian rupee based on an uneasy silver-currency standard. The war put this structure under extreme pressure. Britain’s imports from the Dominions and India surged, whilst its exports to the empire were throttled to a bare minimum. The empire accumulated large surplus claims on Britain, but given its desperate need for dollars and gold, London could not permit the empire to indulge in an import boom from third markets, such as the US.
