TREASURY'S BAKER HOPES PRIME RATE RISE TEMPORARY
Treasury Secretary James Baker said
he hopes yesterday's small increase in two major money center
banks' prime rate was a temporary phenomenon.
    "I hope it was a temporary blip upward," he told a House
Appropriations subcommittee.
    He said the decline in interest rates since President
Reagan took office remains "one of the significant
accomplishments, in the economic area, of this administration."
 Reuter
