SOVIETS OUTLINE 1988 ECONOMIC TARGETS
The Soviet Union outlined its economic
targets for 1988 on Monday, stressing the need to improve
standards in the country's sluggish engineering industry.
    Planning chief Nikolai Talyzin told the Supreme Soviet
industrial output should rise by 4.5 pct in 1988, up from a
planned 4.4 pct in 1987. It rose 3.6 pct in Jan-Sept 1987.
    Talyzin said national income, the nearest Soviet equivalent
to gross national product, should rise by 4.3 pct against a
planned 4.1 pct this year. Gross national product measures the
output of a country's goods and services.
    He said the Kremlin planned to produce 235 mln tonnes of
grain in 1988 versus a planned 232 mln this year. Moscow
produced 210 mln tonnes in 1986.
    Kremlin leader Mikhail Gorbachev has described
machine-builing as a sector whose rapid modernization is
essential if the Soviet Union is to compete effectively on
world markets.
    "Certain difficulties have arisen this year in the
machine-building industry. The economy is not receiving a
considerable amount of the equipment that it requires," said
Talyzin, who heads the state planning committee GOSPLAN.
    Soviet data show the machine-building industry, which makes
machine tools, instruments and other engineering goods,
increased output by 3.3 pct in the first nine months of 1987
compared with the same period last year.
    However, this was far below the 7.3 pct increase planned
for the industry for the whole of 1988.
    Talyzin said the ruling Politburo had concluded at a recent
meeting that an improvement in economic performance depended to
a large extent on conserving resources better. "Large-scale
measures are planned to save resources," he said.
    Finance Minister Boris Gostev told the Supreme Soviet that
defense spending in 1988 would total 32 billion dlrs, the same
figure as was announced last year.
    Western governments view official Soviet estimates for
defense spending as highly understated, but say the real figure
is hard to calculate because Soviet military industries are
intertwined with the civilian economy.
    Talyzin said the Kremlin also decided to increase spending
next year on medical services, education, pensions and social
insurance schemes.
 Reuter
