European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 26, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday May 26, 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 15 Money matters % i h i a id Dollar watch shown below Are the highest Dollar Exchange rates for the week of May 12 18 compared with Dollar rates for the same period one year and five years ago. British Pound. One Pound would Cost you $1.78 $-169 $1.49 1991 1990 i 1986 i German Mark one Dollar would buy you 1.67 1.67 2.27 1 1991 i 1990 i 1966 i a military Exchange rate Spanish peseta one Dollar would buy you 106.00 104.60 1991 1999 v 144.60 1986 i political red tape not Cost slows rebuilding in Kuwait a amps new York apr Cost estimates for rebuilding Kuwait have fallen to As Lov As $14 billion from More than $100 billion but political gridlock has slowed  of work and frustrated Western business executives. Officials who have visited the War ravaged persian Gulf nation said Friday that an intractable kuwaiti bureaucracy combined with internal political squabbling have delayed critical work repairing the War ravaged nations infrastructure. A nobody in the government is doing anything a said Jean Abinader president of the  chamber of Commerce. A a they re almost comatose. You can to get decisions  he said foreign business executives a a can to get a sense from the kuwaitis of a what do you Guys want a a in the private sector shortages of Basic supplies such As water electricity and hotel rooms have hampered efforts by Western companies to make contacts and sign contracts. Kuwaiti officials have lowered estimates of How much Money will be spent to rebuild the country the latest in a Steep reduction in a projected postwar Bonanza that was forecast after Iraq was expelled in late february. Two . Trade experts who said they spoke with kuwaiti and. Saudi arabian officials said the latest official kuwaiti estimate for restoring the Oil Industry is $7 billion to $12 billion with another $7 billion to $14 billion for non Oil sectors. The estimates cover All Public works projects and All equipment machinery and materials for projects including Power roadways ports desalination plants and other Basic services. A the saudis and kuwaitis said $25 billion tops a Abinader said. Even potentially lucrative private Sec Tor spending on Homes Ana consumer goods could be reduced if Large numbers of kuwaitis decide not to return to their nation which remains ravaged by iraqi troops and blackened with soot from burning Oil  has ordered its residents to return by june 12 or face an indefinite wait for approval to come Home. The flow so far appears to be about 5,000 people per Day about half of what was expected. Reports from the country indicate that Many kuwaitis Are choosing not to return. Many stores remain shut residents Are sceptical of plans to have schools Rcv opened by fall and rubble and garbage. Still abound. Frustration also is mounting in the Oil Fields where about 500 Wells continue burning and fouling the air. About 100 Wells have been capped according to reports from the Region. Meanwhile the . Army corps of engineers this month was awarded a $141 million contract to repair Kuwait a 300 schools. That brought the amount of work done by the corps in Kuwait to $218 million. A corps spokeswoman said More than 70 percent of bomb craters on major kuwaiti roadways have been repaired and about 2,000 wrecked vehicles. 00 Road barriers and More than 250 iraqi defense bunkers have been removed from about 120 Miles of Highway. Reservoirs that were emptied during the of month iraqi occupation now Are 35 percent full the spokeswoman said. A a #111 mules i Siuw ilium i nun win we. T a a. Dollar still try division awarded contract in holding f0 design ski s Brilliant pebbles pattern 1the Dollar spent the week in the doldrums a circumstance Money experts Call a a sideways  a a it a currently stable against the yen but moving slightly up and Dow against the Mark a said Ian Amstad of Chase investment Bank in , a substantial move is on the horizon he said depends on the next economic figures from the United states. The results of a . Consumer Confidence Survey to be released tuesday could also have an effect on the dollars standing he said. A a there a really not too much going on just now a agreed Gunter Teich of the Bank of America in Frankfurt. A the . Is still in a recession but it seems to be bottoming out the Mark however is still Strong against All other  he said that the likelihood that Germany will not reduce its interest rates is also keeping the Mark  now according to Amstad the Dollar is at a Crossroads. Investors Are waiting to get More of a handle on the state of the . Economy. The recession has seemingly eased but investors Are worried he said that it might have a a second  on the plus Side . Auto makers have reported an increase in sales there has been a reduction in the number of unemployment claims and orders for durable goods have increased. On the minus Side the number of unfilled factory orders continues to fall which could Lead to production cutbacks. A we must see several Good economic figures come out of the .,�?� Teich said. A then within two or three months i would expect to see the Dollar  the Stan and stripes by the los Angeles times Redondo Beach Calif. A try space amp technology group was awarded a $340.5 million contract Friday to design the Brilliant pebbles program a space based interceptor that is a key feature of the strategic defense initiative. The Redondo Beach group a part of Cleveland based try inc., said that the 50-month a Star wars project to design Brilliant pebbles will employ More than 300 people primarily in Southern California. Martin Marietta corp. Was also awarded a contract for $318 million to design a competing version of the interceptor. A i done to want to imply that this Means try together with our team members Are going out and hiring 300 people a a try spokeswoman said. But the program will help reduce the effect of defense cutbacks on the regions aerospace Industry she said. Brilliant pebbles would consist of clusters of Small missiles orbiting permanently in space that with their own sensors and guidance systems would track and destroy enemy missiles. The debate Over ski makes it questionable How much business the design contracts could ultimately produce. Last week the House voted to reduce ski spending in the 1992 budget year beginning oct. 1 a and to eliminate spending for Brilliant pebbles. The Senate has not acted on its version of the defense spending Bill. A i guess it Means Well have to wait and Sec a the try spokeswoman said. Winning the design contracts could give try and Martin Marietta an Edge in bidding for production of Brilliant pc Bles. First annual loss in years shows recession s blow to . Change plus fees for a variety of services. Indeed the Exchange ended the year with 516 members Down from 535 in 1989. But the total number of listed com by the new York times new York a the new York Stock Exchange reported Friday that it experienced its first annual loss last year in Al a a a a. Most two decades a reflection of the panties which pay listing fees climbed to most two Recd us act 1/774 in 199.0 from 1,720 in the previous a Lojdl. Twu wow wow a a Wolf o. A deepening recession on Wall Street in 1990. A the big Board reported a $3 million loss for 1990, in contrast to a gain of $6.3 million in 1989 the loss was attributed largely to a onetime charge of $10.6 million that the Exchange took to pay for downsizing during the year. The exchanges revenues also fell to $348.6 million in 1990 from $349.2 million a year earlier. The decline came after a decade of growth and expansion for the Exchange m which both Stock ownership and share values skyrocketed. A but As troubles spread across Wall Street last year leading to the collapse a and near failure of several firms the Exchange began to lose some of its members putting it under increased financial pressure. Members pay fees to belong to the sex  member firms also saw losses last year although that does not figure into the exchanges results. The Exchange said member firms that do business with the Public lost $106 million last year the first annual loss in 18 years. All of the nations Stock exchanges have been dealing with lower revenues since trading volumes have shrunk since the crash of october 1987. Officials at the nations largest exchanges including the big Board have said that they need to Cut expenses to meet a More difficult Market environment. David Domijan the chief financial officer of the Exchange said Friday that its officials began to plan for cutbacks Early last year. A we determined that we were perhaps looking at a sustained Industry Down turn a he added in an interview. A we put a number of programs into place to continue to lower the Cost of our  As a result of those changes Domijan said he believed the Exchange was now ready to profit from Wall streets acc of cry. A your financial position has never been better a he added. A we Are extremely Well positioned for an upturn in the Industry in 1991.�?�. _ the cutbacks have resulted in significant staff changes at the Exchange. Since last fall 350 people have been dismissed or offered enhanced benefits to encourage them to retire. The total staff has been reduced to 1,600, from a Peak of 1,950 at the beginning of last year. During the Heady trading Days of the 1980s, the exchanges staffing grew along with the volume until it peaked last year. According to the report released Friday the exchanges $10.6 million charge was made up of $5.6 million in enhanced retirement benefits and $5 million for Severance pay of employees who were dismissed