GERMAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE LOWERS GROWTH FORECAST

  The DIW economic research institute
  said West German economic growth in 1987 is unlikely to reach
  the 1.5 pct rate it had forecast earlier this year.
      The institute, whose forecasts are more pessimistic than
  those of the other four leading German institutes, said the
  economy had passed its peak in the summer of 1986, and its
  prospects had dimmed significantly since the autumn.
      The DIW repeated earlier predictions that gross national
  product (GNP) in the first quarter of 1987 would contract in
  real, seasonally adjusted terms against the weak final quarter
  of last year.
  

