Stoltenberg defended West German policies.

Finance Minister Gerhard Stoltenberg said that West Germany’s economic policies are on the right track and that sustained economic growth should not be endangered by quick-fix solutions. In a speech to the West German chamber of tax advisers, Stoltenberg repeated earlier predictions that the West German economy would grow by 3% this year and next. “A fifth consecutive year of stable economic growth would not be achieved with ‘flash-fire’ (policies),” he said. Stoltenberg was refering to the German government’s and the central bank’s resistance to pressure from the United States earlier this year to give the economy an extra boost with a cut in interest rates.