BONN SERIOUS ABOUT CURRENCY PACT, SAYS TIETMEYER

  West Germany takes "very seriously" the
  recent undertaking by major industrial countries to promote
  exchange rate stability around current levels, Finance Ministry
  State Secretary Hans Tietmeyer said.
      Talking to journalists before a meeting of European
  Community Economy and Finance Ministers here, Tietmeyer
  declined to say whether the February 22 Paris accord by the
  Group of Five countries plus Canada included secret agreements
  for stabilising currencies.
      But he noted the official communique said the participants
  agreed to cooperate closely to foster stability of exchange
  rates around current levels. "We're taking this sentence very
  seriously," he said.
      Tietmeyer remarked that the dollar had hardly moved against
  the mark since the meeting.
      He said a slowdown in West German economic growth had been
  caused by sharp exchange rate swings and that the Paris
  agreement should help in this respect.
      Economics Ministry State Secretary Otto Schlecht said the
  Bonn government saw no current need for measures to bolster the
  economy but was paying close attention to the slower growth and
  had not ruled out "appropriate and timely" action if necessary.
      Schlecht and Tietmeyer were speaking ahead of a discussion
  by the EC ministers of the latest EC Commission report on the
  economic situation in the 12-nation bloc.
      The Commission has sharply revised down expected German
  gross national product growth this year to two pct from 3.2 pct
  predicted last autumn and says Bonn has the most room of any EC
  country to stimulate economic activity.
      Schlecht said the upturn in West Germany's economy slowed
  in the fourth quarter of last year and the first quarter of
  1987. But he said there was no cumulative downwards trend in
  view that would make quick remedial action necessary.
      He said a number of favourable indicators such as high
  level of investment and a good climate for consumption meant a
  recovery could be expected, while exports would pick up
  slightly during the course of the year.
  

