1981 - 85 (five year plan)

• Targets of Five Year Plan

  • Hold down the level of imports
  • Increase exports
  • Speed up scientific and technological advances
  • Reduce domestic energy consumption
• Aim was to invest more in modernisation and improve production
• Aims of Five Year Plan

  • Reduce domestic consumption of energy by 6.1%
  • Minimise price rises
  • Expand the volume of consumer retail goods by 20-23%
• One main economic problem for the GDR was to maintain economic growth to finance extensive social welfare and defence programmes
• when did social welfare and defence programmes rise from 4.4-5.8% of GNP

  1965-1982
• increasing scarcity of raw materials meant industrial production rose by only 4% instead of the projected 5.1%
• Resulted in shortages of goods at various times
• External factors dating back from 1970s such as huge price rises in raw materials and oil adversely affected by the GDR
• 1975 : the USSR revised its pricing structures