YUGOSLAV ECONOMY WORSENED IN 1986, BANK DATA SHOWS
  National Bank economic data for 1986
  shows that Yugoslavia's trade deficit grew, the inflation rate
  rose, wages were sharply higher, the money supply expanded and
  the value of the dinar fell.
      The trade deficit for 1986 was 2.012 billion dlrs, 25.7 pct
  higher than in 1985. The trend continued in the first three
  months of this year as exports dropped by 17.8 pct, in hard
  currency terms, to 2.124 billion dlrs.
      Yugoslavia this year started quoting trade figures in
  dinars based on current exchange rates, instead of dollars
  based on a fixed exchange rate of 264.53 dinars per dollar.
      Yugoslavia's balance of payments surplus with the
  convertible currency area fell to 245 mln dlrs in 1986 from 344
  mln in 1985. The National Bank said the drop was due to a
  deterioration in trade. Exports to the convertible currency
  area rose 11.6 pct from 1985, while imports rose 17.8 pct.
      Retail prices rose an average of 88.1 pct in 1986 while
  industrial producer prices rose by 70.6 pct, the bank's data
  showed. The cost of living rose by 89.1 pct.
      Personal incomes rose by 109 pct in 1986.
      Prime Minister Branko Mikulic warned in February that wages
  were too high given the level of productivity.
      Mikulic introduced a law cutting wages to the level of the
  last quarter of 1986 and tying future rises to productivity.
      Bank statistics show the overall 1986 rise in M-1 money
  supply was 109.1 pct with a year-end position of 3,895.9
  billion dinars. Yugoslavs have 9.8 billion dlrs worth of
  foreign currency savings in the country and 20 billion dlrs
  abroad, mostly owned by workers employed in western Europe.
      The dinar fell by 73.1 pct against a basket of hard
  currencies in 1986. The highest depreciation was against the
  Swiss franc, 85.3 pct, and the lowest against the U.S. Dollar,
  46.2 pct.
  

