Just as, in the winter of 1918, over most of central and eastern Europe, new governments were set up and some administration functioned before the new frontiers were definitely laid down, so when hostilities ceased governments and peoples throughout the continent began to restore or create peacetime economic life. The situation in central and eastern Europe was much more disturbed, and the problems greater, than in the west, and will be considered in the next chapter. In western Europe, by the end of 1920 the work of repairing the damage was under way in France, Belgium, and Italy: the French government had disbursed over one third of all the payments eventually made to claimants, financed largely by domestic borrowing until such time as reparations should come in. In terms of manufacturing production, France and Belgium were still in 1920 producing only about two-thirds of their 1913 output. The United Kingdom and Italy, on the other hand, were producing between 92 per cent and 96 per cent of prewar output. External trade had resumed, although under difficulties. In 1919-20 continental Europe imported from overseas more food and finished goods than it had done in 1913. Commodity prices, however, were much higher than before the war; the bulk of raw material imports went to the western Allies and the former neutrals, and little to eastern Europe. Overall less than one third of imports were covered by exports; the scramble for high-priced commodities contributed to the depreciation of currencies; and that in turn increased difficulties in arranging credits.