SOVIET UNION SETS 4.5 PCT INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT GROWTH
Soviet Planning chief Nikolai Talyzin told
the Supreme Soviet (parliament) industrial output is planned to
rise by 4.5 pct in 1988, up from a planned 4.4 pct in 1987.
    In the first nine months of this year, industrial output
rose by 3.6 pct.
    Talyzin said national income, the nearest Soviet equivalent
to gross national product, is planned to rise by 4.3 pct
against a planned 4.1 pct this year.
    He said grain production is planned at 235 mln tonnes in
1988, compared with a planned 232 mln this year.
    The Soviet Union produced 210 mln tonnes of grain in 1986
and the Soviet press has said heavy rain has affected the
harvest this year.
    Talyzin said the 1988 Soviet plan stressed the engineering
industry, which Kremlin leader Mikhail Gorbachev has described
as a sector where rapid modernisation 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 this
year against the same period of 1986. This is well below the
7.3 pct rise planned for the industry for all of 1988.
    Talyzin said the ruling Politburo 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 Gustev told the Supreme Soviet
defence spending in 1988 would total 20.2 billion roubles, the
same as announced last year.
    Talyzin said the Kremlin also had decided to increase
spending next year on medical services, education, pensions and
social insurance schemes
    He said state expenditures in these fields would reach 171
billion roubles in 1988, or 3.5 billion roubles more than had
originally been envisaged in the 1986-1990 Five-Year Plan.
 REUTER
