European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 19, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday february 19,1991 the stars and stripes b Page 17 a a.  a a Ai it a  Money matters today s tip the japanese As usual received More . Patents last year than the residents of any other foreign country but less than half As Many As americans themselves picked up i a a. Some 20,170 patents were issued to residents of Japan in 1990, the . Patent and trademark office announced. That was Down 3.5 percent from 1989. By contrast american citizens collected 51,526 patents More than half of the nations total but also Down slightly from 1989. A conversion rates London u i mondays closing rates for the . Dollar to other currencies figures Are expressed in dollars to the British Pound other local currencies in dollars. Gold was quoted at $364.00an ounce Silver als3.78. British Pound. German Mark French franc. Dutch Guilder. Belgian franc. -. Italian lira. Swiss franc. Greek drachma. Turkish lira. Saudi arabian Riyal. Spanish peseta. A portuguese escudo Canadian dollar.,.,. A. Austrian Schilling. Norwegian Krone.  feb. 15 1.9715 a a 1.4755 a a a .5.0225 .1.6532 a .30 355 a 1,107 40 1.2660 Quot 157 33 3,121.70 3.7504. 91.68 129.33 1.1515 .10.3240 5.7415 .5.6460 feb. 18 1.9610 a 1,4838 a 5.0455 1,6635 30.530 1,112,95 1.2725 a 158.40 3,144.70. 3.7503 92.35129.85 1.1525 10.4075 5.7830 5.6855 these Are unofficial rates As reported by wire service and banking sources and they Are listed to give some idea of daily currency fluctuations. A a v a. The Only of f Ici a i r a the conce r n s the Sale of German Marks to . Personnel for personal use and this will be 1.44 tuesday based on mondays noontime Price fixing. A a. 1 a a a a a. Markets closed the . Financial markets were closed monday in Observance of the presidents Day Holiday. Rates on trial and error controls switch v a a a a a a. A a a. A a a a a from communism to capitalism by Blaine Harden the Washington Post Warsaw Poland a More than a year after the demise of communism in Eastern Europe four of every five enter a Prises in the Region still Are owned by the state. To. A a. Its not that governments done to want to sell them off. Indeed politicians across the Region speak of private ownership As though it were a Miracle cure for All the economic ailments arising from 45 years of Central planning. The sticking Point in the past year has been How to privatize in a Way that is at once fair fast and Likely to revive the Economy. Elected leaders cannot afford to be perceived by voters As giving away state assets to foreigners or worse former communist managers. But they also want to put enterprises into the hands of motivated owners who know what they Are doing. 5 / v. Quot. A a Poland which prides itself As a Pioneer of Post communist change charged out in front of privatization. It passed the first comprehensive Law and set up the first ministry of ownership changes. But the new head of that ministry acknowledges that Poland Laboured mightily to produce Little. The government focused most of its time and Talent on building a bureaucratic machine that could pick qualified state owned companies assess their value prepare Stock offerings and then sell them off to investors. Polish Law limits foreign Stock ownership to to percent unless special permission is granted. The machine works but at a snails Pace. A a a a in a fully conscious that it is disappointing so far a said Janusz Lewandowski who took office in january As Poland a second minister of ownership changes. A in one year we sold five com panics. That is five out of 8,000. It would take 100 years to privatize Poland at the Speed of 1990.�?� nevertheless privatization has not proved an across the Board bust. Selling off Small shops and businesses has proved relatively easy Poland managed in 1990 to sell about half its Small enterprises. And Czechoslovakia recently scored a smashing Success in its first auction of restaurants and Small stores. It plans to sell More than 100,000 Small businesses this year. ,.  a a a. V a a but Selling Large comm fist style enterprises a big factories and sprawling service monopolies that employ tens of Eastern Europe a new economic order democracy and capitalism have brought a new Hierarchy of affluence to Eastern Europe. Poland Czechoslovakia. And Hungary Are becoming haves in the Region while Bulgaria Romania  Are have Nota a Quot a a a a a a a 1. A i. Cd a a a a a 1 monthly income per capita . Dollars  currency. Phi Ann 1 Germany Poland a to aaust a Hungary a Quot a \ \ Italy \ x Romania $179 1.7 Mil. Zlotys Czechoslovakia $103 3,500 Koruna Hungary $112 9,300 forints Romania $23 2,280 Lei Mumm $14 286 leva $50 500 Lek Austria $2,000 20,496 schillings Germany $2,142 3,042 Marks millions of Eastern europeans a requires far More capital than can be nor titled at a weekend  the simplest approach to Selling these kinds of enterprises is being carried out in the Small and relatively Well off yugoslav Republic of  the Best possible Way is to find an Active buyer an informed buyer who will Taky Oyer management a said Markosi of neti managing director of Slovenia a Agency for privatization. Slovenia which is half the size of Belgium and has a population of 2 million is Selling nearly air of its 1,200 state owned enterprises under a relatively unregulated and highly decentralized system of open bidding. Unlike Poland Czechoslovakia or Hungary each of which has imposed delays and red tape on foreign buyers there Are no such restrictions in Slovenia. Simonetti who studied business at Cornell University said the Republic has trained about 100 appraisers who in the next two years will supervise the Sale of hundreds of Large companies. The appraisers were trained at seminars run by major International accounting firms. The Agency for privatization has veto Power if it judges the final sellings Rice to be too Low or suspects a Kickback tween current managers and new buy a ers. Slovenia which has Long term business lies to Austria and Germany expects most of its major Buyck it i to come from those two count Ries. The country is offering exceptionally Liberal terms to qualified buyers who have enough capital to pay for Only 30 percent or 40 percent of a company. A the objective is to Start privatization immediately by introducing private con Irol on the basis of part i a i of Ner slip a Simonetti said lie said the goal is to quickly find a a motivated Active and Par Lial owner who will immediately take car of corporate  Slovenia of course is a Small and special Case. Its Economy even under communist Rule was far More decentralized and had fur greater contacts Wittfo Westerh business practices than Poland . Slovakia or Hungary. But there Are a number of signals from the past year in All three of these other East bloc nations that privatization works Best when its kept simple. In Poland senior officials at the ministry of ownership changes arc now say ing that Stock  be considered As Only one route to change. Two other options Quot Are management buyouts and employee leasing deals both of which have been tried recently. By Cox news service with . Interest rates dropping experts say rates offered by sayings institutions on certificate of deposits Are also on the Way Down. A cd rates will fall in february and there a a Good Chance  fall in March a said Hugo Ottolenghi of Bank rate Monitor an investment newsletter. From july to december the average rate on six month cd fell from 7.68 percent to 7.19 percent. During that period the rate on one year cd slipped from 7,81 percent to 7.25 percent. A right now there is a very Strong demand for cd despite the fact that rates keep falling Quot said Norberto Mehl chairman of ban quote Money markets in new York. The reason rates Are falling is because Banks need fewer deposits than in the past several years because the demand for Loans has dropped sharply. Grant to new York apr the Ford foundation has awarded 52 5 million in Grants to help Community College students successfully Transfer to four year schools granting bachelors degrees. Some of the Money will also support efforts to increase the number of minority and female administrators at Community colleges said Franklin a. Thomas the foundations president. Only about 15 percent of Community College students successfully Transfer to four year institutions Thomas said. He noted that Grants Are aimed especially at helping minority students make the shift. The bulk of the Ford Grant $2 million will go to the american Council on education a National Center for academic achievement and Transfer. It will distribute the funds to pairs of two and four year institutions for establishing joint curricula and taking other Steps to smooth the transition. The Washington based Council which represents some 1,800 colleges and other institutions will name the schools getting Grants in april. Four pairs will receive $200,000 each to create joint Core Currick a to ensure Community College students Are prepared to  in other pairs will get $25,000 to help them establish partnerships aimed at fostering the skills necessary for minority youngsters to Advance from Community colleges to four year schools. The rest of the Grant to Ace will be used to collect information on Transfer rates to produce publications on those rates and to support the Center. The remaining $500,000 will go to nine institutions to help More women and minorities gain administrative jobs in higher education. A institutions to get approximately $50,000, Are North Carolina state Texas a amp a the Michigan Community College consortium the association of California Community College administrators at Cupertino Calif. The Maricopa Ariz Community College District the National Community College hispanic Council at fort Worth Texas Harvard University a Institute for educational management Salish Kootenai Community College in Pablo Mont. And the american Council on education