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swings in oil prices. The disclosure that Watanabe was scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia in late April and Great Britain sometime later was sufficient indication of a global concern for early restoration of stability. The Japanese depend enormously on imported crude and should welcome the oil price fall as it improved the short-term financial prospects for the Japanese refining industry and also improved the prospects of the petrochemical manufacturers. But at the same time, the Japanese cannot overlook the fact the value of the yen has gained by some 3o per cent since June last and reports that the oil producing countries were showing a preference for holding their reserves in yen. Japanese persuasion may well carry more weight than the admonitions of the US government or the confrontationist policy of the British government.