The World - News from Aug. 6, 1989

The Kremlin painted a gloomy picture of the Soviet economy, with a national debt of nearly $500 billion--one that is also growing faster than that of the United States. The assessment came in a speech by State Planning Committee chairman Yuri D. Maslyukov before the Supreme Soviet, or legislature, which is to consider the 1990 budget during a session that begins Sept. 26. Inflationary pressures are growing, and the deficit for 1989 is now projected at $192 billion, up 20% from estimates given six months ago. That is four times the U.S. budget deficit in terms of the economy’s ability to adjust to it, Soviet officials said. The Soviet deficit amounts to 13.8% of all the country’s goods and services produced in a year.