The World - News from Sept. 27, 1987

Vietnamese leader Nguyen Van Linh told workers that the country cannot go back to paying them with goods instead of money, even though economic reforms have failed to halt runaway inflation, according the Vietnam News Agency. Linh, the Communist Party general secretary, in a speech carried by the news agency, called commodities payments an “outmoded system.” He blamed the price spiral on farmers refusing to sell their crops in hopes of better prices, and on factories that held back consumer goods for the same reason. Linh gave the speech four months ago, but the news agency gave no explanation for the delay.