Editing Marshall Plan (section)

==Repayment==
The [[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development#Organisation for European Economic Co-operation|Organisation for European Economic Co-operation]] (OEEC) took the leading role in allocating funds, and the OEEC arranged for the transfer of the goods. The American supplier was paid in dollars, which were credited against the appropriate European Recovery Program funds. The European recipient, however, was not given the goods as a gift but had to pay for them (usually on credit) in local currency. These payments were kept by the European government involved in a special '''counterpart fund.''' This counterpart money, in turn, could be used by the government for further investment projects. Five percent of the counterpart money was paid to the US to cover the administrative costs of the ERP.{{sfn|Price|1955|p=106}} In addition to ERP grants, the [[Export-Import Bank of the United States|Export-Import Bank]] (an agency of the US government) at the same time made long-term loans at low interest rates to finance major purchases in the US, all of which were repaid.

In the case of Germany, there also were 16 billion marks of debts from the 1920s which had defaulted in the 1930s, but which Germany decided to repay to restore its reputation. This money was owed to government and private banks in the US, France, and Britain. Another 16 billion marks represented postwar loans by the US. Under the [[Agreement on German External Debts|London Debts Agreement]] of 1953, the repayable amount was reduced by 50% to about 15 billion marks and stretched out over 30 years, and compared to the fast-growing German economy were of minor impact.{{sfn|Guinnane|2005|pp=17, 20–21, 27–28, 30}}