U.S.S.2.'S GROWTH RATE DOWN from Pat Jordan
It has been widely rumoured that one of the contributing factors to Khrushchov's downfall was a declining growth rate in Soviet industry. The following item which appeared in the Financial Times perhaps throws some light on this question, It should be noted however, that even the 'low! rate spoken about is far in excess of the United Stites! 2 os and that projected for (and said by some to be impossible) Britain of 4%. Experts have pointed out that Soviet methods of accounting exaggerate ;ercents7> srowth rates, end also that GNP growth rate would be much less because of the failings of Soviet agriculture. However, even after these factors have been taken into account, the growth rate is a tribute to the greater efficiency of nationalised industry. The iuem reads?
"Sovidt industrial output rose by 1% during the first 9 months of 1964, compared with the first 9 months of 1963. This is confirmed by detailed official figures now available. This compares with an increase of 8.7% in the first 9 months of 1963 as against the same period of 1962....0f individual sectors, only meat shows an obviously bad situation in the statistics. Meat output from the government slauzhterhouses was 2.4 million tons in the first 9 months of 1964 showing a fall of no less than 20% with the same period of 1963. But this is little more than an inevitable aftermath of the bad harvest of 1963 and the resulting shortage of fodder.
"Production in the chemical industry, which is now the key sector of Sovi+t industry, is stated tc have increased by 15%-eeein fertilisers, one of the important sectors, production is scheduled to*rise from 20m. tons in 1963 to 35m. tons in 1965. The first 9 months of 1964 showed an increase of 4m. tons to 18.25m. tons for the period. This sugzests a total for the year of between 25m. and 26m. tons...2n increase which would still leave the country in striking distance of its 1965 target. If dissatisfaction over the performance of industry was in fact one of the reasons for Mr. K's fall, the reason..eis probably to be found in factors not revealed by the production figures. One of these is the poor state of factory construction, which has been discussed in the newspapers..."