European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 07, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday. May 7. 1991 the stars and stripes Page 17 Money matter today s tip a new Oil discovery in the Gulf of Mexico May be the largest . Find in 20 years. It May prove As dramatic As the Alaska discovery in the 1970s, an Industry publication has reported. A some think the total could go Well Over 2 billion barrels a according to the authoritative Petroleum intelligence weekly. The discovery provides the first sign that deep Waters in the Gulf a will offer a reprieve for the ailing . Oil Industry As dramatic As Alaska proved to be in the 1970s,�?� the Magazine said. A a a a a a a a. -. A a a a Shell Oil has the rights to most of the find. Conversion rates London up 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 $354.05 an ounce Silver at $3 97. May 3. May 6 British pound�1 6930. A German Mark 1.7480 1.7430 French Iran. 5.8085 5.8945 dutch Guilder .1.9305 1.9575 belgian franc. .35.255 35.870 italian lira. .1,271.10 1,291.50 Swiss franc 1.4715 1 4735 greek drachma. ,186.00 189,12 turkish lira 3,899.70 3,938 90 saudi arabian riyal3.7500 3.7502 Spanish peseta 105.88 107.37 portuguese escudo. 146.69 148.89 Canadian Dollar in. 1499 1.1505 austrian Schilling. �?�,.-12.055 12 228 norwegian Krone. 6.6765 6 7670 danish Krone. .6 5515 6.6465 these Are unofficial rates As re ported by wire service and banking sources and they Are listed to give some idea of daily currency fluctuations. The Only official rate concerns the Sale of German Marks to . Personnel for personal use and this will be 1.69 through tuesday based on mondays noontime  defends tank sales to Arab armies Jerusalem a prime minister Marian Calfa of Czechoslovakia said sunday that unless Western investors help his country develop new peaceful industries it will have no Choice but to sell tanks to Arab armies. Calfa who is visiting Israel was asked about reports that Czechoslovakia plans to sell 300 of its advanced soviet designed t-72 tanks to Syria israelis most powerful enemy. Calfa said Czechoslovakia needed foreign investment to convert military industries developed under communist Rule. A if these factories were closed 80,000 highly skilled slovakian workers would have nothing to do a he told reporters. A everyone is telling us to Stop this production hut nobody is giving us any advice on How to employ these people. A tanks Are being considered As merchandise made in Czechoslovakia that we Are capable of Selling. We would sell these to anybody a Calfa said. Coca cola enjoying Success in Eastern German Market by Ferdinand Protzman ,. The new York times Weimar Germany a Wolfgang Schulze was running a ramshackle soft drink Plant in a former Weimar brewery when East Germany a communist system crumbled last year. Now he is overseeing construction of a Fulty modern bottling Plant for one of capitalism a flagships the coca cola co. Schulzek a Swift conversion front communist bureaucrat to technical director of the Weimar Plant is no Accident. It is a result of coca Colas agility and resourcefulness in making a big move into the Eastern German  most Western companies remain reluctant to dip into the economically troubled Region the soft drink giant plunged in even before German unification. Now Coke plans to spend $450 million Over the next two years one of its largest foreign investments anywhere to Date. A this is the soft drink equivalent of the Marshall plan a said Emanuel Goldman a beverage research analyst for Paine Webber inc. In san Francisco. A it is one of the most significant moves Coke has made in quite a while and will bring All sorts of. Benefits  Eastern Germany a a a Quot a a a a a a a a a. The move is also an important part of cokes Overall strategy in Europe where Germany is its largest Market. The company is already the dominant soft drink producer in Western Germany where it has been successfully consolidating its operations to yield higher volume and profits. The importance to Coke of its foreign operations particularly German sales was underscored on april 24, when coca cola Headquarters in Atlanta reported a 13 percent increase in earnings for the first Quarter of this year stronger sales in overseas markets More than offset sluggish . Business. Coke said its unit Case sales Rose 17 percent in Germany. Heinz Wiezorek the head of coca cola a Mph the company a subsidiary based in Essen in the Ruhr Industrial area said German cokes total annual sales were Between $2.64 billion and $2.94 billion including joint ventures with bottlers. A few competitors like Pepsi and Western German Mineral Spring Waters Are also moving rapidly into Eastern Germany but appear to be Well behind coca cola. Pepsi is far behind in Western Germany As Well where its annual sales in 1990 were less than a seventh of cokes 766 million Gallons. Government officials said cokes efforts were a Model for the kind of corporate involvement needed to revitalize the Region s devastated Economy. Those efforts include hiring and training 1,500 Eastern germans by the time the expansion is completed and giving contracts for packaging sugar and printed advertising material As Well As Case and pallet manufacturing almost exclusively to local suppliers. So far however Coke is one of the few Western companies to make such a commitment. A they Are the Model and unfortunately the exception Quot said Peter Rieck who Heads the City of Weimar a economic department. A coca cola is a Lucky break for Weimar. Well get 300 to 400 recession proof jobs a steady corporate taxpayer and a major purchaser of goods and services from area  coca cola is also flourishing in Eastern Germany despite the Industrial collapse and widespread unemployment that have plagued the Region since the two nations merged their economies last july 1. The Success is largely a result of the remarkable thirst shown by Eastern Germany a 17 million inhabitants for coca Colas products which were previously available Only in special hard currency shops. Quot the people were waiting for Coke a Schulze said. A everyone had seen Coke commercials on television. Now townspeople bring their kids out to the Plant site to show them where Coke will be  consumer surveys done shortly after the Berlin Wall opened showed 99 percent of East German Consumers recognized the name coca cola although the product had been virtually unobtainable there for 40 years. But Coke is not taking any cd juices. It has made a big marketing Pushtu Eastern Germany and red and White Coke signs Are sprouting Over restaurants snack shops and Street vendors carts. Cokes slogan for All of Germany is a you can to beat the feeling a in English. Wiezorek said retail sales began in Eastern Germany on feb. 14, 1990, with Coke trucked in from the West. Quot we were Selling maybe 200,000 cases of cans there a year so in effect we started from Zero a Wiezorek said. The 200,000 cases translate into 50,000 Gallons. By the end of 1990, an astonishing 31.7 million Gallons of Coke fanta Coke Light diet Coke in the United states and sprite had been sold. A i think we will triple that this year a he added. By 1995, the company says Eastern German sales could be approaching 150 million Gallons a year. While earned interest remains Low Banks keep grip on High charges by Georgia c. Marl Das the Baltimore evening Sun s interest rates that Banks pay on savings accounts have been dropping for two years. At the same time charges for consumer Loans especially on credit card balances remain stubbornly High. The banking Industry says that the increasing spread is justified because of higher delinquency and default rates resulting from the recession pressure on earnings arid regulatory demands that Banks boost capital ratios and reserves. Observers say that Banks Are using fat profit margins on the consumer Side to plug losses from bad commercial Loans. A Consumers Are caught in a massive squeeze a said Robert k. Heady publisher of the weekly Bank rate Monitor which tracks rates nationwide. A Short term savings rates have dropped like a Rock while consumer rates have risen a he noted. According to Bank rate Monitor As of april 24 the average yield of a six month certificate of Deposit has fallen 3.25 percentage Points since april 1989 a from 9.34 to 6.09 percent a a nearly 35 percent drop that Heady termed  the yield for one year cd has fallen 3.15 Points from 9.51 percent to 6.36 percent and for five year cd 1.96 Points a 9.20 percent to 7.24 percent. Interest paid on Consumers Money Market accounts has dipped from 6.62 percent to 5.44 percent. During the same period the average credit card rate has increased from 18.09 percent to 18.92 percent As of april 30, the average rate for unsecured personal Loans has risen from 17 percent to 17.27 percent. Auto Loans have declined Only slightly from 12.54 percent to 11.88 percent. A the numbers done to lie. Its very Clear that the consumer is paying the Tab for the Banks bad commercial Loans a Heady said. / a a we re seeing some Banks pay As Little As 4/ percent yield on a one year cd and charge 18 percent on credit cards. In retail parlance that a a 300 percent markup on the Cost of their Money a i Leady said. A a a -. The Gap has widened despite the Federal reserves continuing push to lower rates. Tuesdays Cut in the discount rate a the amount the fed charges Banks for borrowing a to 5.5 percent was the third since dec. 18 and. Puts it 1.5 percent under the april 1989 level. The feds action also pushed the key Federal funds rate a what Banks charge each other for overnight Loans a Down to 5.75 percent from 6 percent. Wednesday in response. Big Banks Cut their prime rate a what they charge their Best commercial customers a a half percent to 8.5 percent. Virginia Stafford spokeswoman for the Washington based american Bankers association said that added costs and losses associated with delinquencies defaults and bankruptcies due to the recession were partly to blame for the widening spread Between consumer loan rates and savers rates. Since 1989, she said delinquencies a payments More than 30 Days past due a on instalment Loans for goods such As cars and boats have increased 12 percent. A hopefully As the recession subsides consumer rates will come Down a she said. A credit card rates seem to defy the Laws of economic Gravity Quot said Elgin Holstein director of bankcard holders of America a non profit consumer group. A nobody is saying they should match other rates but they at least should track the Overall trend. But indeed the trend lines Are moving in opposite directions.�?�. Whereas other Market rates Are about half what they were a decade ago credit card interest rates Are higher than 10 years ago Holstein noted. A they have never gone Down Quot he said. A the banking Industry would have you believe that its to counter bad debt fraud counterfeiting. The real truth is that the banking Industry lobbied for years a and was successful a. To push state usury Laws higher and it la never let go for fear it la never get it Back a Heady said