ECONOMICS : ‘New Age’ Communist Trade Bloc Emerging : Eastern Europeans in the Soviet club, many of them broke, face hardship in dealing with real money.

A new age in East European economics dawns Tuesday, when the nations of the Soviet trading club pack away the mirrors they have used to balance their checkbooks for four decades.

It will be every new democracy for itself in 1991, when the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, or Comecon, starts keeping its books in real money, instead of the synthetic “transferable ruble” that has been its common, unconvertible currency for internal wheeling and dealing.

The accounting change will have an explosive effect on the fragile trade network, as it calls due old debts at a time when none of its members is in any position to pay up.

Comecon’s great reckoning will also widen the prosperity chasm separating the reform-oriented states of Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia from poor Balkan neighbors who have never pulled their own weight.

Only the energy-rich Soviet Union stands to see short-term benefits from the reorganization. Moscow will be able to command better products at the best prices, in return for continued supplies of oil and electricity to energy-starved former allies.

But for Eastern Europe and the other Comecon members (Vietnam, Mongolia and Cuba), the changes will bring hardship.

The more forward-looking nations concede that the difficulties are unavoidable if they are to pursue market economies that may allow them to live like their neighbors in the West.

The Comecon changes require all prices and contracts to be calculated in dollars; bilateral agreements also must be negotiated to replace the network that has become obsolete.

The most tangible differences will be an end to subsidized transport for the alliance’s 480 million people and a projected 30% drop in trade among nations that account for 7.6% of global imports and exports.

Comecon, created in 1949 as Moscow’s answer to the U.S.-led Marshall Plan, for years has allowed its citizens to travel for about 20% of scheduled air and rail fares.

“That means it cost Hungarians nothing to go to Bulgaria on vacation,” said Ferenc Urban of Malev Hungarian Airlines. “But who is going to go to Bulgaria when he can go to Greece or Spain or Italy for the same price?”

With Comecon air fares set to go up 400% on Tuesday, and international railway tickets to increase by 1,000%, intra-bloc travel is expected to plummet by 40%. And as the passenger levels drop off, so too will the frequency of service, Urban predicted.

The new rules allow member countries to set their own terms for future cooperation, but some say Comecon may survive only as a framework for phasing itself out.

Even calculating trade deficits is proving a Gargantuan task, as goods were valued in rubles that have no real worth on the international market. Nations like Hungary, which are owed large sums, want to transfer accounts at the arbitrarily determined Soviet exchange rate of 92 cents per ruble. But those in debt argue that such a conversion grossly overcharges them for what were shoddy goods.

While Comecon’s sad realities may encourage more prosperous members to write off bad debts, the bloc is unlikely to entirely disappear, if for no other reason that its members collectively own a few attractive assets and that some of their longstanding links make it easier to continue trade relationships, albeit in altered forms.

Here are some likely effects of the changes on each Comecon nation:

Bulgaria

Already mired in its worst financial crisis since World War II, Bulgaria stands to suffer as much as a 15% decline in economic performance next year. The nation is entirely dependent on Soviet oil, for which it has not yet negotiated deliveries for 1991. Nor has it agreed on other trade terms with the Soviets, who traditionally bought two-thirds of Bulgarian exports.

Cuba

Still trying to make socialism work, Cuba is unable to compete even within Comecon and enters the new phase of accounting heavily in debt to other members. Continued Soviet trade in exchange for sugar and other commodities is likely, but few other bilateral contracts are expected with this nation.

Czechoslovakia

Prague has concluded a barter agreement with Moscow for energy supplies for the year’s first half, ensuring industrial operations during this crucial phase of the transition to a market economy.

East Germany

By disappearing as a country, East Germany escapes the quagmire of Eastern Europe’s economic restructuring. East Germany canceled three-quarters of its contracts with other Comecon states after its Oct. 3 merger with West Germany.

Hungary

As the recipient of more than half the Western investment made in Eastern Europe in 1990, Hungary wades into the new era with good chances for eventual prosperity. But Hungarians have lived on borrowed money for too long, as evidenced by a $21-billion foreign debt.

Mongolia

Backward and entirely dependent on handouts from Moscow and Comecon partners, Mongolia’s trade ties with the new democracies are expected to disappear.

Poland

Hamstrung by a $40-billion foreign debt and aging industries heavily dependent on imported oil, Poland will face immediate and continuing problems coming up with the cash for fuel to keep factories operating. But Poles have already tackled some of the toughest steps toward a market economy by introducing “shock therapy” to set prices according to world standards and wean the population from subsidies still distorting other East Bloc economies.

Romania

Authorities in Bucharest have tried to bite the economic bullet with radical measures to strip subsidies and encourage industrial efficiency. But Romania’s trade was heavily dependent on markets that have disappeared, such as machinery exports to East Germany and car sales to Hungary, where Western manufacturers now compete handily. Soviet electricity supplies crucial to Romania’s industries have yet to be secured for 1991, further threatening production that has been declining amid labor strife and political unrest.

Soviet Union

As the only sizable producer of oil in an economic network built on energy-guzzling industries, the Soviet Union will retain its commanding role in relations with Comecon states. Moscow has already signed contracts for high-technology imports and desirable consumer goods in return for continued fuel supplies to Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland. The withering of Comecon will also reduce Moscow’s burden of support to poorer allies.

Vietnam

Long a drain on the collective socialist economy, Vietnam is billions in the red in Comecon account books. It intends to pay off those arrears--slowly--with agricultural exports. Vietnamese guest-workers may also continue to provide manpower in countries suffering from a dwindling labor force, but such agreements likely will become rare as unemployment rises in Eastern Europe.

DECADES OF COMECON TRADE

Created in 1949, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, nicknamed Comecon, was founded as Moscow’s answer to the U.S.-led Marshall Plan. Alabania is a member but has not participated since 1961; Vietnam joined in 1978 but has recorded little more than debits; post-German reunification, East Germany no longer exists.

Trade figures in millions of rubles Bulgaria ‘50: 199 ‘60: 872 ‘70: 2,570 ‘80: 9,623 Cuba ‘50: Not available ‘60: 192 ‘70: 1,355 ‘80: 5,541 Czechoslovakia ‘50: 695 ‘60: 2,150 ‘70: 4,329 ‘80: 13,252 E. Germany ‘50: 570 ‘60: 2,679 ‘70: 5,709 ‘80: 16,122 Hungary ‘50: 356 ‘60: 1,037 ‘70: 2,669 ‘80: 10,303 Mongolia ‘50: 64 ‘60: 127 ‘70: 176 ‘80: 616 Poland ‘50: 685 ‘60: 1,437 ‘70: 4,067 ‘80: 13,211 Romania ‘50: 342 ‘60: 821 ‘70: 1,689 ‘80: 5,714 Source: The Europa World Year Book, 1990. *The arbitrarily determined Soviet exchange rate is 92 cents per ruble. But this valuation is in dispute, especially within Comecon.