{OCDE REVUE DE PRESSE/OECD PRESS REVIEW} •••• July 3

{OCDE REVUE DE PRESSE/OECD PRESS REVIEW}
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July 3 Juillet 1991
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LE TEMPS - Région parisienne: Après des
orages nocturnes, il y aura encore de
bonnes ondées.
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SG/PRB/D(91)122
AFP: LE MONDE EN BREF
LJUBLJANA (Yougoslavie) - La Slovénie a proclamé unilatéralement le
retrait de ses forces territoriales et la fin des hostilités, a annoncé
mardi soir à Ljubljana le président slovène Milan Kucan, après avoir
rencontré le président yougoslave, le Croate Stipe Mesic.
BELGRADE - Le général serbe Blagoje Adzic, chef d’état-major de l’armée
yougoslave, a accusé le pouvoir central d’entraver son action en Slovénie
et promis de la "conduire à son terme".
MOSCOU - Le Soviet suprême soviétique a approuvé de nouveaux "fondements
de la loi pénale", bases pour les codes pénaux des différentes républiques
soviétiques, qui insistent sur la défense des droits individuels et
limitent considérablement l’application de la peine capitale.
ISLAMABAD - Le Premier ministre du Cachemire pakistanais a rejeté les
résultats des élections du week-end dernier au parlement local en
dénonçant une "fraude massive", et refusé de transférer le pouvoir au
parti musulman vainqueur, a-t-il déclaré à la presse.
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ONU: RAPPORT ANNUEL SUR L’ECONOMIE MONDIALE
LE FIGARO: Croissance zéro en 1991
GENEVE - "Les Nations Unies invitent les pays occidentaux à sortir de la
rigueur et de l’austérité, afin de stimuler la croissance. Les experts de
l’organisation internationale misent sur une croissance zéro en 1991,
avant une reprise (2%) en 1992. Dans son rapport annuel sur l’économie
mondiale, l’ONU critique ainsi implicitement les pays qui cherchent à
réduire les pressions budgétaires et le poids du secteur public, et
pratiquent une politique de réduction des dépenses publiques pour limiter
l’inflation en freinant la demande intérieure. Selon l’ONU, le prix à
payer est visiblement trop élevé. Les économistes ’onusiens’ notent que si
la maîtrise de l’inflation a été obtenue elle va de pair avec un accroissement des taux d’intérêt et du chômage, et une diminution des investissements et de la croissance."
ENERGIE
LE FIGARO: Pétrole: le dialogue va se poursuivre
PARIS - "Le dialogue entre les pays producteurs et consommateurs de
pétrole va se poursuivre. Le ’séminaire ministériel’ qui vient de se tenir
à Paris, pendant 48 heures, était le 1er contact entre les 2 groupes,
depuis l’échec de la conférence Nord-Sud de 1975... Mais une 2ème
rencontre au niveau ministériel devrait avoir lieu. Selon le ministre des
Relations extérieures, Roland Dumas, la Norvège a proposé de l’organiser,
peut-être avec l’aide de l’Egypte, a-t-il ajouté... Parallèlement à ce
2ème ’séminaire’ devrait se tenir une réunion d’experts. Au nom de
l’Agence Internationale de l’Energie, Quincey Lumsden, directeur des
marchés pétroliers de l’agence, a proposé que les discussions reprennent
’aussitôt que possible’ entre spécialistes des questions énergétiques,
membres de l’AIE, de l’OPEP, ou d’autres pays producteurs. Cette
proposition est en elle-même un événement. Au cours des 20 dernières
années, en effet, l’AIE avait systématiquement combattu toute initiative
dans ce sens."
FINANCIAL TIMES: Meeting avoids price issue
PARIS - "... The meeting has carefully avoided taking any substantive
decisions, and in particular has skirted any hint of a discussion of oil
prices. ’There was absolutely no question of substituting this dialogue
for the mechanisms of the market’, Mr Dumas said. Nevertheless, a number
of ministers argued that the market’s functioning could be improved.
’There was broad agreement among the participants that it is indubitably
market forces which have primacy in determining price structures, but it
is possible and right to perfect market mechanisms by making them more
transparent’, said Mr Armando Duran, the Venezuelan foreign minister."
AIR TRANSPORT
FINANCIAL TIMES: Airline losses climb
GENEVA -"The airline industry has lost $2.5bn on international scheduled
services so far this year because of the economic recession and the
collapse of air travel during the Gulf war, Mr Gunter Eser, the director
general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said
yesterday. The losses this year follow a loss of $2.7bn last year on
international airline scheduled services, added the head of the
Geneva-based organisation, which groups 200 airlines."
GATT - THAILAND
REUTER: Dynamic Thailand still protects some home industry
GENEVA - "Thailand has become a dynamic exporter and importer in recent
years, but some pockets of domestic industry are still highly protected
against foreign competition, the GATT trade body said on Wednesday.
’Substantial pockets of high protection remain in the Thai economy, either
by way of restrictive border measures or through other policies such as
local-content requirements’, said the report compiled by the secretariat
of the 102-member General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The protected
areas included processing of agricultural products, textiles, leather
goods and motor vehicles."
OECD ECONOMIES
Italy
FINANCIAL TIMES: OECD sees upturn
PARIS - "The Italian economy, experiencing its worst year for growth
since 1983, should regain some momentum in 1992, although high local
interest rates may restrain recovery. The OECD said in its half-yearly
report that stimulus should come from faster export growth as the stronger
dollar made Italian products more competitive abroad. Internal demand was
expected to rise under the influence of continuing high wage increases,
particularly in the public sector, and this would help boost economic
growth to 2.7% next year. The organisation expects the Italian economy to
expand by about 1.7% in 1991, its slowest rate for 8 years. This compares
with the 2.5% the OECD forecast last December for 1991."
Germany
FINANCIAL TIMES: Pöhl attacks subsidies for east
BONN - "Mr Karl Otto Pöhl, president of the Bundesbank, yesterday
strongly attacked the Bonn government’s departure from free-market
principles in its extensive subsidies for east Germany and its policies on
GATT trade talks. In a speech in Bonn, Mr Pöhl said the government was
building ’an unbelievably interventionist and dirigiste system’ through
transfers to east Germany to support incomes and jobs there. He also said
Bonn’s attitude on GATT was ’not always consistent with the traditional
(liberal) line’ previously followed by Germany on international trade. Mr
Pöhl was speaking after receiving the annual Ludwig Erhard Foundation
prize, awarded to policy-makers and commentators advancing the values of
free-market economics... He repeated the Bundesbank’s oft-voiced criticism
of the 60% increase in east German wages over the past year, which was
harming the outlook for investment east of the Elbe."
THE GUARDIAN: German exports worry
BONN - "A combination of rising unit labour costs, tougher export
control laws and lack of demand abroad for expensive, high-quality
products is awakening fears for the continued competitiveness of German
industry. Yesterday, the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHT)
warned, in publishing its annual survey of export prospects, that German
exports are increasingly losing attractiveness through higher prices and
competition is becoming harder on world markets."
United States
FINANCIAL TIMES: Campaign to improve skills
WASHINGTON - "Ms Lynn Martin, the US labour secretary, yesterday
launched a campaign to improve skills in industry by advocating
revolutionary changes in the way US schools prepare young people for the
world of work. Releasing a report by the Secretary’s Commission on
Achieving Necessary Skills (Scans), she said American high school students
needed to develop ’new competencies and foundation skills’ if they were to
be productive. More than half of the nation’s young people left school
’without the knowledge or foundations required to find and hold a good
job’... The report’s emphasis on practical skills marks a departure in
America’s long-running educational debate - and the first attempt to find
a US answer to high-quality vocational training in Europe."
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