The Soviet government said economic results achieved in the first three months of the year were unsatisfactory the official news agency Tass said. Soviet industrial production from January to March grew by 2.5 per cent compared with the same period last year but fell short of its target by 0.8 percent official statistics showed. The Council of Ministers (government) emphasised that the results did not meet the Communist Partys exacting demands for the radical reconstruction of the economy Tass said. The first quarter economic results were deemed unsatisfactory. The government said poor economic results last January when industrial production was 0.1 lower than in January 1986 had been overcome to a considerable extent in March but the negative effects had not been completely eliminated. It singled out failings in the engineering chemical and timber industries as well as light industry. Growth in the machine-building sector a priority in Kremlin plans for economic renewal also fell short of target by 4.2 per cent with below-level output in nearly all branches at a cost of 723 million roubles (1.08 billion dollars) in undelivered products. The sales volume of consumer goods fell 2.7 per cent short of planned growth with a resulting decline in income to the state the figures showed. Foreign trade turnover totalled 27.5 billion roubles (41.25 billion dollars) or 4.8 billion roubles (7.2 billion dollars) less than in the same period last year. The power industry however performed well. Output of oil electricity gas and coal were all above plan.
SOVIETS SAY 1987 ECONOMIC RESULTS UNSATISFACTORY