The World : Soviet Price Cuts Promised

Soviet consumers were promised cuts of between 10% and 30% on prices of important household goods in the new year. Ivan Gorbachev, deputy chairman of the State Committee on Prices, was quoted in the weekly newspaper Arguments and Facts as saying that the cuts will apply to cloth, appliances and other goods and that $165 million has been allocated in the budget to fund them. Gorbachev also dismissed rumors that price increases had been planned and said that a campaign would begin in 1989 to boost the output of low-priced items needed for children and by the elderly. He said measures under discussion include incentives to turn out more inexpensive goods.