{OCDE REVUE DE PRESSE/OECD PRESS REVIEW} •••• December

{OCDE REVUE DE PRESSE/OECD PRESS REVIEW}
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December 6 Décembre 1991
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LE TEMPS - Région parisienne: Journée
ensoleillée avec quelques passages
nuageux. Il fera 1 .
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SG/PRB/D(91)210
REUTER - WORLD NEWS SUMMARY
WASHINGTON - Middle East peace negotiations were stuck in a procedural
quagmire as the United States tried to mediate an agreement between Arabs
and Israelis on when to meet. In JERUSALEM, Israel toughened its control
of the occupied West Bank. The Arab group at the UNITED NATIONS announced
its unanimous opposition to a United States bid to revoke a controversial
1975 UN resolution equating Zionism with racism.
WARSAW - Jan Olszewski, finally nominated by President Lech Walesa as
Poland’s new prime minister after a long standoff, was promptly attacked
by Walesa in tones which bode poorly for his bid to form a new government.
WIESBADEN - The release of the last 3 US hostages held by kidnappers in
Lebanon has shifted attention to 2 remaining German captives and stepped
up efforts to win their release.
WASHINGTON - African National Congress President Nelson Mandela says
President George bush reaffirmed to him US support for ending apartheid in
South Africa.
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REUTER: US stocks, $ fall as key employment report nears release
NEW YORK - "Wall Street shares and the $US fell on Thursday as jitters
about the US economy gained momentum ahead of a key employment report.
Long-term Treasury bonds ended sharply higher after Treasury Secretary
Nicholas Brady said the government could shift some of its borrowing. Spot
oil slipped 37 cents to $20.39 a barrel on the New York Mercantile
Exchange, while January gold rose $2.10 to $368.50 an ounce. The Dow Jones
industrial average closed down 22.58 points at 2,889.09."
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MEDIA
THE TIMES: Maxwell’s empire collapses
"The Maxwell empire collapsed yesterday, a month to the day after the
death of its founder, Robert Maxwell. Maxwell’s sons, Ian and Kevin,
admitted they were unable to organise a rescue package for the family’s
private companies, which have debts of 1.4bn pound sterling, and asked the
High Court to appoint administrators to take control of the companies...
In new York last night, Robert Maxwell’s final and most publicised
acquisition, the DAILY NEWS, filed for ’protective bankruptcy’, the
American equivalent of calling in administrators. In London his personal
dream, THE EUROPEAN, publishes its final edition today unless buyers are
found soon."
WORLD ECONOMY
YOMIURI SHIMBUN: ADB: US to lead global revival
MANILA - "World economic growth is expected to pick up next year after
virtually stagnating in 1991, with the United States leading the recovery,
the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said in a report on Tuesday. It forecast
that global interest rates would not increase significantly and that world
trade would grow at about 5.0% next year. In an update to its annual Asian
Development Outlook, the Manila-based bank said that despite the speedy
end of the Gulf conflict, global economic performance in 1991 had fallen
short of expectations... But the ADB said prospects were better for 1992,
and forecast world GNP growth of around 2.3%, assuming generally soft
commodity prices, no new shocks to the global economy and oil prices of
around $20 a barrel."
AGRICULTURE
F.T.: Hopes of breaking impasse hang on US talks
GENEVA/BRUSSELS - "Hopes of breaking the EC-US farm subsidy deadlock are
now pinned on a meeting in Washington tomorrow between Mr Edward Madigan,
US agriculture secretary, and Mr Ray Macsharry, EC farm commissioner. Two
days’ talks between top trade and farm negotiators, backed by political
trouble-shooters representing the US and EC presidents, in Brussels and
The Hague, ended inconclusively on Wednesday. The Washington meeting is
seen on the EC side as the last chance of winning an understanding before
next week’s Community summit at Maastricht... If Mr Madigan and Mr
MacSharry fail to achieve a break-through tomorrow, Mr John Major and Mr
Ruud Lubbers are expected to raise the farm question at the summit,
against French hostility to having it ’polluted’ by the Uruguay Round."
REUTER: Majority of Japanese favour opening rice market, poll
TOKYO - "A majority of Japanese favour relaxing a long-standing ban on
imports of rice, according to an opinion poll published on Friday. The
poll in the MAINICHI SHIMBUN newspaper found 39% favoured opening the
market partially and 20% supported a system of tariffs on imports. Only
27% were against allowing rice imports."
ASAHI EVENING NEWS: Gov’t to offer partial opening of rice market
"In a major turnaround on its policy to totally ban rice imports, the
government on Wednesday instructed officials conducting Uruguay Round farm
trade negotiations in Geneva to seek a solution by offering a partial
opening of Japan’s rice market... The government wants to establish,
however, rice import quantity limits and settle the issue within the
framework of the current staple food control system. The government is
aiming to receive exceptional treatment for rice as the Uruguay Round farm
talks are moving toward tariffication. Japan is opposing such a move,
believing that tariffication would lead to total liberalization of the
rice market... If the new policy for partial opening of the rice market is
not accepted at the GATT talks, Japan may begin study on an additional
pledge to introduce tariffs in the future."
REUTER: Large grain crops needed for world reserves - US economists
WASHINGTON - "Bountiful crops will be needed next year to build up world
grain reserves and meet the needs of leading consuming nations such as the
Soviet Union, US Agriculture Department (USDA) economists said this week.
’Over the last few years the world has been dipping into grain stocks to
meet its needs’, Frank Gomme, a marketing specialist, told the annual USDA
Agricultural Outlook Conference. Lower grain harvests in the United States
and the Soviet republics in 1991 have cut into grain reserves this year.
The Agriculture Department’s latest estimate says the world will have 319
million tonnes of grains in reserve by the end of the year, down from
337.34 million tonnes last year."
OECD ECONOMIES
United States
HERALD TRIBUNE: Bush names new team to gird for ’92 campaign
WASHINGTON - "Fearing a hard fight for re-election in bad economic
times, President George Bush named a new chief of staff on Thursday and
promised strong measures next year to stimulate growth. He also appointed
3 political professionals to operate his re-election campaign, now bound
to be made more difficult by a sluggish economy and an unexpected challenge to his nomination from the Republican right wing. Mr Bush announced
at a press conference that Secretary of Transportation Samuel K. Skinner
would succeed John H. Sununu as White House chief of staff. Mr Sununu
resigned Tuesday after months of controversy that damaged the
president."
Allemagne
LES ECHOS: La croissance en perte de vitesse au 3ème trimestre
"La croissance allemande s’essouffle. Au 3ème trimestre, le produit
national brut de l’ouest du pays n’a augmenté que de 2,5% par rapport au
trimestre correspondant de 1990. Un rythme inférieur de 0,5% à celui du
trimestre précédent, a annoncé, hier, l’Office fédéral des statistiques de
Wiesbaden. Au 2ème trimestre, la croissance ouest-allemande atteignait
4,8% sur un an. L’Office souligne que le PIB a progressé plus fortement
que le PNB avec une croissance au 3ème trimestre de 3% sur un an. Ce
phénomène avait déjà été observé à la fin du 2ème trimestre... Autre
indicateur publié hier, le chômage a été stable en Allemagne de l’Ouest au
mois de novembre tandis qu’il enregistrait un léger recul à l’Est par
rapport au mois précédent, selon les chiffres publiés par l’Office fédéral
du travail. A l’Ouest, avec une hausse de 19 300 demandeurs d’emploi, le
taux s’est maintenu à 5,4%, tandis que, dans l’ancienne RDA, avec 17 800
chômeurs de moins, le taux passe à 11,7% contre 11,9% au mois d’octobre.
Sur un an à l’Ouest le taux est passé de 5,8% en novembre 1990 à 5,4%
cette année."
Sweden
FINANCIAL TIMES: Bank rate lifted by 6 points
STOCKHOLM/LONDON - "Sweden’s central bank yesterday introduced a
swingeing rise in interest rates in an attempt to restore dwindling
foreign confidence in the krona. The bank’s marginal interest rate to
banks was lifted by 6 percentage points from 11.5 to 17.5% after a heavy
net outflow of capital from the country, amounting to more than SKr26bn in
the past two-and-a-half weeks. Mr Carl Bildt, the Swedish prime minister,
said the rise was necessary to show the country’s determination not to
devalue and to stand by its current exchange rate policy. ’We have been
infected by Finland, but we have not got the disease’, he said, adding
that the rise was ’a tough measure at a tough time to make a tough policy
possible - but there’s no other way’."
Australia
F.T.: GDP slips 0.3% despite interest rate cuts
SYDNEY - "Australia’s Labor government suffered a serious setback
yesterday with the release of figures showing that gross domestic product
declined by 0.3% in the 3 months to September. The announcement came only
a few hours after Mr John Kerin, the treasurer (finance minister),
declared that the economy had emerged from a recession which began in
mid-1990. The unexpected weakness of the economy will increase pressure
from business and trade union organisations for a further cut in official
interest rates, which have fallen by 9.5 percentage points since peaking
at 18% in early 1990."
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