Devaluation of the Rumanian lei has severely affected the emigration of Israel-bound Rumanian Jews, a group of 261 immigrants who arrived here yesterday aboard the SS Transylvania reported. Seventy Jews scheduled to sail for Israel remained in Constanza because they did not have the funds to pay the customs duty, the newcomers reported. Forty other Jews arrived in Israel without their luggage for the same reason.
The immigrants said that the future status of Rumanian immigration will depend on whether the Rumanian Jews bound for Israel, have the money to pay for rail transportation to the port of Constanza. They stated that under the new currency regulations, workers in Rumania receive one new lei for 20 old leis on the first 1,000 leis, and beyond that 400 leis are equivalent to one new lei. Non-workers and land-owners get ten new lei for the first 1,000 of the old ones and one lei for every 1,000 above the first 1,000.
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