A Different Christmas
Joseph, however, smiled. "No, not only must we not raise the interest rate, we have to lower it..."
"Huh? But that will make them sell even less, Your Highness."
Joseph swept his gaze over the officials of every rank present, and merely instructed Gaudin, "Please make preparations on the basis of 130 million Francs' worth of Government Bonds being sold."
The Minister of Finance nodded in surprise. "Yes, Your Highness."
The French Government currently owed less than 1.4 billion Francs in foreign debt, and the interest was extremely low, so there was almost no pressure to repay it. That meant it had very large room for borrowing—according to the Ministry of Finance's previous report, France's debt ceiling was around 2.7 billion Francs. As long as it stayed below that number, there would be no deterioration of its finances.
Yes, France's debt-servicing ability had now also greatly improved—back then, with 2 billion in debt, it had already been unable to repay it.
This was also why Joseph was willing to raise funds through Government Bonds.
He knew very well that France's emerging capitalists and Italy's old nobles were richer than the next; buying 100 million Francs' worth of Government Bonds would be as easy as lifting a hand. The difficult part lay in how to make them take out the money.
In fact, his method was nothing more than the "truth" of the financial circle—chase the rise and kill the fall.
Add to that a good story to spark a buying frenzy.
Doubling the sales volume ought to be achievable.
Afterward, under the puzzled gazes of the officials, he ended the planning on financial matters and began discussing with the Minister of Foreign Affairs how to handle Saint-Domingue, Louisiana, and other places during wartime.
Because this was a