Russia lagging

Press, 17 November 1981, Page 8

Russia lagging

NZPA-Reuter Moscow The Soviet Communist leadership is expected to' meet for its annual economic policy review today, with the dismal results of this year's grain harvest likely to lend a sombre tone to the’occasion.

The gathering of the party’s Central Committee traditionally precedes sessions of the Supreme Soviet (the nation's Parliament), which assembles to pass into law the 1981-85 plan and the Government’s one-year development programme for 1982. President Leonid Brezhnev is unlikely to dwell on the disappointing grain harvest figures in his keynote address. the only part of the proceedings to be made public. But subsequent speeches behind closed doors are sure to spell out the repercussions.

After poor crop yields in 1979 and 1980, both Western and Soviet experts predict that the Soviet harvest for this year will be no more than ’ 175 • million tonnes, about 60 million tonnes short of the official target figure.

As a result, Moscow is expected to import record amounts of grain, sapping its foreign currency reserves and worsening ’its foreign trade balance.

Government attempts to build up livestock levels will also be hit, meaning that food supplies to the population will continue to be a serious problem.

Results from the industrial sector present a somewhat rosier picture, but this year's figures are nevertheless lagging behind the Government's goals. Output, due to rise 4.1 per cent, seems set to grow by only 3.3 per cent according to figures published so far, and labour productivity, scheduled to improve by 3.6 per cent, is likely to be a full percentage point below target. With such disastrous agricultural results and unfulfilled industrial targets in the first year of the new five-year plan, it will be difficult for the economy to make up the losses and achieve the goals set for the entire 1981-1985 period.