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The 1981-85 Five Year Plan:

• 1981-85 Five Year Plan set ambitious targets: to hold down the level of imports and increase exports.
  • As well as speed up scientific and technological advances while reducing domestic energy consumption.
• Aim was to invest more in modernisation and improve production.
  • Efficiency was key.
• The idea was to:
  • Reduce domestic consumption of energy by 6.1%.
  • Minimise price rises.
  • Expand the volume of consumer retail goods by 20-23%.
• One main economic problem for the GDR was to maintain economic growth to finance extensive social welfare and defence programmes.
• From 1965-1982 the latter rose from 4.4-5.8% of GNP.
• Meanwhile in the same period, the increasing scarcity of raw materials meant industrial production by only 4% instead of the projected 5.1%.
• Resulted in shortages of goods at various times.
• Whatever the doubts about the official figures, there is no doubt that external factors dating back from 1970s such as huge price rises in raw materials and oil adversely affected by the GDR.
• This was exacerbated in 1975 when the USSR revised its pricing structures.
• GDR faced a doubling of OPEC oil prices and reduced deliveries from USSR.