The World - News from Dec. 8, 1987

Communist Party officials of Yugoslavia told a Central Committee convention in Belgrade that decisive steps must be taken to revive the economy and end corruption that they said has “become synonymous with our society.” Deputy Premier Janez Zemljaric told the 165-member policy-making body that without a rescheduling of Yugoslavia’s debts, the national economy will collapse. Another member, Ivo Druzic, proposed “something more akin to a moratorium” on debt repayment, but he did not elaborate. Yugoslavia, with an annual inflation rate of 170% and 17% unemployment, devotes as much as 10% of its gross national product to payments and interest on its $19-billion foreign debt.