BANGEMANN REJECTS CALL FOR EARLY TAX CUTS
West German Economics Minister Martin
Bangemann indirectly rejected a call from the country's leading
economic research institutes for early introduction of a major
tax reform involving gross tax cuts of 44 billion marks.
    In a statement reacting to the five institutes' joint
spring report, Bangemann said that as far as the call for
bringing forward the 1990 tax reform was concerned --
    "The government points out that the positive effects for
growth of its policy of consolidation (cutting the budget
deficit) must not be allowed to be endangered."
    Bangemann also recalled that the scope of tax cuts planned
for 1988 had already been increased.
    Three institutes predicted two pct economic growth in 1987,
with exports falling by 0.5 pct. The other two saw only one pct
growth and said exports would fall 2.5 pct.
    Bangemann said "The government, agreeing with the majority,
sees no reason for the extraordinarily pessimistic estimate for
exports expressed by the minority."
    He said there was reason to believe that export demand
would start to rise in the course of the year, partly because
of a further increase in world trade.
 REUTER
