The World : Soviets Seek Deficit Cure

A top Soviet economist asserted that the Soviet Union can eliminate its $162-billion budget deficit in two or three years by trimming expenditures and concentrating on quick-profit ventures. Leonid Abalkin, director of the Economics Institute of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, said that erasing the red ink is essential to remedy shortages of consumer goods plaguing the nation. He said the Soviet state should support businesses that make a quick profit and stop financing businesses that won’t turn a profit for years. He said $32 billion could be saved by closing bad businesses and calling off expensive construction projects and other huge outlays. A recent government report said that one in 10 Soviet enterprises lost money in 1988.