WORLD IN BRIEF - CHINA - Austerity Plan Seen as Partial Success

China’s yearlong austerity program achieved some success in harnessing runaway economic growth and stabilizing prices but failed to solve serious defects in state planning, according to a report published in the official China Daily. Food retail prices had not risen since December, but the report acknowledged that huge government subsidies were a main factor in keeping prices down. The austerity program, imposed last fall, was designed in part to control economic growth, which soared to 20.7% last year to 8% in 1990. Economists predict the growth rate will be about 11.5% and retail sales will be up only 15%, compared to a 27.8% jump in 1988.