GERMAN BANKS SAY UNCERTAINTY ABOUT ECONOMY GROWING

  Uncertainty is growing about the prospects
  for the economy as orders for industry fall and companies scale
  back investment plans, the German Savings Banks and Giro
  Association said.
      Exporters expect foreign demand to remain weak, while
  industry is less optimistic than it was, the association said
  in a report.
      However, last month's agreement among the six leading
  western industrialized countries to keep currencies around
  present levels was expected to be a stabilizing influence for
  exporters, it added.
      The banking association said the possibility of using
  monetary policy to stimulate the economy should not be
  overestimated.
      Another small drop in already low interest rates could not
  be expected to cause any significant rise in purchases of
  consumer or capital goods, it said.
      The Bundesbank's half-point cuts in the discount and
  Lombard rates in January have largely exhausted the scope for
  any further monetary moves, the association added.
      On Tuesday the Federal Statistics Office said gross
  national product stagnated in real, seasonally and calendar
  adjusted terms in the fourth quarter of 1986 compared with the
  third quarter.
      The Economics Ministry, commenting on the figures, said GNP
  in the 1987 first quarter was also expected to be relatively
  weak.
      Bank economists have forecast the economy will either
  stagnate or contract slightly in the first quarter. Official
  first-quarter figures are due in early June.
  

