A study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says it may take years to resolve the huge economic imbalances now plaguing the world economy, U.S. and western officials said. The paper was expected to stimulate policy debate among senior officials of leading industrial nations preparing for next month’s annual meeting of finance ministers in Paris. The May 11-13 ministerial meeting of the 24-nation OECD, a forum for coordinating economic policies, has taken on added significance in view of the difficulties dogging the attempts of major nations to achieve joint goals.

Spain’s Minas de Almaden y Arrayanes S.A. Said it will host a conference of mercury producers here at the end of April to study how to stimulate low mercury prices. Last week, Almaden and Algerian producer ENOF agreed to establish a minimum price of 300 dlrs per flask (34.5 kilos) for spot mercury sales, up from the previous minimum of 240 dlrs. A Minas de Almaden statement said the non-communist world’s main mercury producers had decided not to sign any contracts using the reference price of specialist publications, because it was well below their costs of production.

Attempts to hold currency rates rigidly within tight ranges through European Monetary System intramarginal intervention can be counterproductive, bringing funds into the stronger currency from the weaker at rates still considered fairly favourable, the Bundesbank said. “The movements thus sparked can actually promote the weaker tendency of a currency, requiring still larger obligatory intervention when rates hit band limits,” it said in its 1986 annual report. The other danger was that money supply expansion could be caused in the stronger currency nation without its central bank being involved in the activity.

There were 106,200 tonnes of U.S. corn shipped to the Soviet Union in the week ended March 26, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department’s latest Export Sales report. There were no wheat or soybean shipments during the week. The USSR has purchased 2.65 mln tonnes of U.S. corn, as of March 26, for delivery in the fourth year of the U.S.-USSR grain agreement. Total shipments in the third year of the U.

Egypt has embarked on reforms sought by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank by raising the price of diesel oil and other types of transport fuels. The energy price increases were the first visible measures taken in return for IMF standby credits and World Bank loans. Effective today, fuel oil prices were trebled and prices of gas oil, diesel and kerosene went up by over 50 pct, an Egyptian General Petroleum Corp (EGPC) official said.

The Bundesbank urged the West German government not to relax efforts to rein in spending when taxes are cut in a 1990 fiscal reform package, saying that higher expenditure could lead to a dangerous rise in interest rates. The Bundesbank’s 1986 annual report said the government’s choice of measures to compensate for any cut in tax income was a key political task. “There will also be consequences for the state’s attitude on spending,” it said.

The southwest Chinese region of Guangxi increased its production of sugarcane by 26.8 pct to 9.4 mln tonnes in the 1986-87 crushing season (November to March) from the previous year, the New China News Agency said. The cane, grown on 206,000 hectares, yielded 1.04 mln tonnes of refined sugar, it said without giving comparative figures. China’s sugar output in calendar 1986 rose to 5.24 mln tonnes from 4.45 mln in calendar 1985, official figures show.

prime minister edward seaga last night presented a budget of 6.9 billion jamaica dlrs, the largest in the country’s history, which projects increases in capital spending and continued divestment of state companies. In a nationally televised speech to the parliament, the prime minister, who is also minister of finance, said jamaica’s gdp grew by four pct, the highest level in 15 years, while unemployment stood at 23.6 pct, down from last year’s 26 pct.

An extension of the International Tin Agreement (ITA) is unrealistic and the pact should be allowed to lapse, Indonesian Mines and Energy Minister Subroto told reporters. Asked about Jakarta’s position for the quarterly session of the International Tin Council on April 8-9, Subroto said Indonesia had agreed to the formation of a study group to look into how to replace the pact. But he said that given the present disagreement between producers and consumers, there is unlikely to be any follow-up to the ITA.

The Bank of Japan does not intend to ease credit policy further, bank officials told Reuters. They were responding to rumours in the Japanese bond market that the central bank was planning to cut its 2.5 pct discount rate soon, possibly before Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone leaves for Washington on April 29. Bank of Japan governor Satoshi Sumita will be in Osaka, western Japan on April 27 and 28 for the annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank, making a rate cut announcement early next week a virtual impossibility, they said.