GERMAN GNP FIGURES PUBLICATION DELAYED
Figures for first quarter 1987 West
German GNP will be published on June 11 after they were
provisionally scheduled for June 4, an official at the Federal
Statistics Office said.
    The official said there had been a delay in gathering
information for the data, which are expected to show that the
West German economy contracted in the period.
    A spokesman for the Economics Ministry in Bonn said there
was no political motivation behind publishing the figures on
June 11, the day after the Venice economic summit ends.
    "There is no political motivation. It is a purely technical
matter," he added.
    The West German government is expected to come under
pressure in Venice from both the U.S. And its European partners
to stimulate domestic demand as a way of reducing international
trade imbalances and contributing to world economic growth.
    However, government officials have ruled out any further
tax reduction packages to supplement a major program of
stimulatory fiscal measures already underway.
    Helmut Schlesinger, vice-president of the West German
central bank, the Bundesbank, said in Tokyo today that GNP, the
widest measure of a country's economic activity, fell in real
terms by a seasonally adjusted 1/2 to one pct in the first
quarter compared with the fourth 1986 period.
     The government has confirmed that growth was negative in
the first 1987 quarter. But year-on-year growth is expected to
be about two pct.
    Schlesinger today repeated the Bundesbank's reluctance to
cut its official interest rates further. Its key discount rate,
at three pct, is just above historical lows.
    West German officials are likely to emphasise at the Venice
summit that domestic demand, which draws in goods from abroad,
is already outstripping export performance, which has suffered
from an 80 pct rise of the mark against the dollar in just over
two years.
    The government has pointed out that depressed exports are
the main reason for the current weakness in the economy, but
says that later in the year stronger domestic demand will
compensate for this setback.
    It expects GNP growth for the whole of 1987 of just under
two pct, after a 2.4 pct rise in 1986.
 REUTER
