GDR: Prospects for the 1980s

This chapter discusses the economic prospects of German Democratic Republic (GDR) during 1970s. The Program of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany adopted at the ninth party congress in 1976 repeatedly referred to the GDR economy's orientation toward growth and performance and established stable economic growth as a long-term strategy. As economic growth is measured by the rate at which national income increases, maximization of national income as an overall social goal dominates economic policy in the GDR and in the other socialist nations. The GDR's economy has grown continuously during the 1970s. Although its debts to the West amount to almost nine billion US dollars, the GDR is in a relatively favorable position compared to the other nations of East Europe because of special inner German relations—its foreign exchange receipts amount to about two billion US dollars annually. At the beginning of the 1980s, the GDR's economic leadership was going through a process of reorientation regarding the continued pursuit of economic growth as an important goal.