SOVIETS OUTLINE 1988 ECONOMIC TARGETS
  The Soviet Union outlined its economic
  targets for 1988 on Monday, stressing the need to improve
  standards in the country's sluggish engineering industry.
      Planning chief Nikolai Talyzin told the Supreme Soviet
  industrial output should rise by 4.5 pct in 1988, up from a
  planned 4.4 pct in 1987. It rose 3.6 pct in Jan-Sept 1987.
      Talyzin said national income, the nearest Soviet equivalent
  to gross national product, should rise by 4.3 pct against a
  planned 4.1 pct this year. Gross national product measures the
  output of a country's goods and services.
      He said the Kremlin planned to produce 235 mln tonnes of
  grain in 1988 versus a planned 232 mln this year. Moscow
  produced 210 mln tonnes in 1986.
      Kremlin leader Mikhail Gorbachev has described
  machine-builing as a sector whose rapid modernization is
  essential if the Soviet Union is to compete effectively on
  world markets.
      "Certain difficulties have arisen this year in the
  machine-building industry. The economy is not receiving a
  considerable amount of the equipment that it requires," said
  Talyzin, who heads the state planning committee GOSPLAN.
      Soviet data show the machine-building industry, which makes
  machine tools, instruments and other engineering goods,
  increased output by 3.3 pct in the first nine months of 1987
  compared with the same period last year.
      However, this was far below the 7.3 pct increase planned
  for the industry for the whole of 1988.
      Talyzin said the ruling Politburo had concluded at a recent
  meeting that an improvement in economic performance depended to
  a large extent on conserving resources better. "Large-scale
  measures are planned to save resources," he said.
      Finance Minister Boris Gostev told the Supreme Soviet that
  defense spending in 1988 would total 32 billion dlrs, the same
  figure as was announced last year.
      Western governments view official Soviet estimates for
  defense spending as highly understated, but say the real figure
  is hard to calculate because Soviet military industries are
  intertwined with the civilian economy.
      Talyzin said the Kremlin also decided to increase spending
  next year on medical services, education, pensions and social
  insurance schemes.
  

