Germany’s current account and trade surpluses should narrow sharply in 1987 but they will take a long time to get back to normal levels, the Bundesbank said in its 1986 yearly report. The procedure would be slow as an abrupt turnaround in external factors such as oil prices and exchange rates was not expected. It did not specify what levels it considered normal. West Germany posted a record trade surplus of 124 billion marks in 1986, after 86 billion in 1985 and its current account surplus widened to 76.

The proposed European Community (EC) levy on oils and fats has been criticised by CAOBISCO, the association of EC biscuit, chocolate and confectionery manufacturers. In a letter to the President of the Council of Ministers, M. Eyskens, the association said the tax would cost the EC biscuit, cake, chocolate and confectionery industries almost 200 mln European currency units per year. The tax also was contrary to the spirit of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and could prompt U.

U.K. Public relations group Valin Pollin International Plc said it had conditionally agreed to buy the New York-based Carter Organisation Inc for up to 114.6 mln dlrs. Initial payment will be 51.0 mln dlrs with further payments based on pretax profits over the three years to end-September 1990. Carter is an investor relations, consultancy and proxy solicitation firm. The first payment would be through the issue to the vendor, Chairman Donald Carter, of new Valin Pollin ordinary shares.

The U.S. Secretary of Commerce Malcolm Baldrige said a further decline of the dollar would not be productive. He told reporters here that Treasury Secretary James Baker “feels, and I feel the same way, that a further dollar fall would be counterproductive.” Baldrige also said governments cannot determine long-term currency exchange rates and that currencies would eventually reflect underlying economic fundamentals. The U.S. Commerce Secretary is in Hong Kong after stops in Peking and Seoul on an Asian trade tour.

Japanese oil traders generally expect oil prices to remain steady through June, when the next Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (Opec) meeting is scheduled to take place. Prices have kept to a narrow trading range for more than a month, despite coming under considerable pressure in February as Japanese oil companies holding high oil stocks strongly resist paying official prices, trade sources said. Despite these attempts, spot crude rose steadily to stabilize around OPEC’s 18 dlr a barrel target, they said.

Government officials said the worst may be over for the Japanese economy, after today’s news of stronger than expected growth in the January/March period. But private economists were not so sure and said the economy was unlikely to achieve the government’s 3.5 pct growth forecast in the current fiscal year ending next March. As already reported, GNP rose 1.2 pct in the January/March quarter, after a revised 0.7 pct increase in the previous three months.

The Peruvian government’s freeze on silver sales, which has contributed to a sharp boost in the metal’s price, could draw retaliation by rich nations and big traders seeking lower prices, President Alan Garcia said. Peru, the world’s second biggest silver producer, stopped selling its refined silver and state-marketed ore on tuesday. Since then, the metal’s price has risen to its highest level in nearly three years. It closed today at over nine dlrs an ounce on world markets.

Africa’s efforts to revive its economy are not being matched by international help, two of the continent’s heads of state said at the opening of a conference. Presidents Ibrahim Babangida of Nigeria and Denis Sassou- Nguesso of Congo urged Africa’s development partners to act over the continent’s debt, which now totals 175 billion dlrs, at a meeting organised by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). Their view was backed by Monique Landry, Canada’s Minister for External Relations.

An oil import fee could cost consumers nearly 17 billion dlrs a year and undermine long-term U.S. energy security by leading to a quicker depletion of domestic reserves, a Federal Trade Commission study said. The study by the FTC’s bureau of economics found that a five dlr a barrel tariff on crude oil and gasoline oil imports would increase costs to consumers by 14 to 16.7 billion dlrs a year.

Nigeria’s military government retreated in the face of hostile public opinion and restored the minimum wage of 125 naira (about 32 dlrs) a month. It revoked an order made only last December which exempted companies with fewer than 500 employees – the vast majority – from paying the minimum wage. Labour Minister Brigadier Ike Nwachukwu, announcing the decision in Lagos today, said it was made out of respect for public opinion and to maintain industrial harmony.