European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 11, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 14 the stars and stripes Money matters tuesday january 11,1994 today s rates following Are fixed rates at which Community banking and credit Union facilities will sell for eign currencies to . Personnel for personal use German Mark. 1.69 British Pound 1.54 dutch Guilder 1.88 greek drachma. 243.204 note the rates above apply within the Host country. Figures Are expressed in dollars to the. British Pound other currencies to the Dollar following arc Interbank rates that fluctuate and should be re. Garden As the approximate value of the . Dollar to foreign Curren cies italian lira. 1,697.58 turkish lira 14,635.40 Spanish peseta 144.05portuguese escudo 176.30 austrian Schilling 12.15 saudi Royal. 3.7495 Bahrain Dinar 0.3767 kuwaiti Dinar 0.2979 norwegian Krone .7.4680 danish Krone 6.7270 British Pound 1.4925 German Mark .1.7258 Swiss franc .1.4685 French franc 5.8885 dutch Guilder 1.8315 belgian franc 36.07 Canadian Dollar 1.3165 Noto figures Are expressed in dollars to the British Pound other currencies to the Dollar Gold quote -$382.20 an ounce Silver quote $4.88 an ounce Paramount Battle takes intermission new York a like the toy Rab bit in the Battery commercial the Battle for Paramount communications inc. Keeps going and going and going. Viacom inc. Raised its offer for the to vie making and publishing concern Fri Day Only hours before the latest deadline in its 4-month-old fight with rival bidder ivc network inc. But the outcome of the fierce takeover Battle remains unclear. De Hatch of us securities said Sun Day the fight is a Long Way from being decided. There is More drama that is going to be carried out Here he said. While Viacom is now offering More Cash for Paramount than ivc analysts say the Overall value of its Cash and Stock offer is Well below the ivc bid that the Paramount Board has embraced. Ivc the West Chester  Home shopping Channel operator called Viacom s new offer inferior to its own bid and questioned whether it triggered anew round of bidding under rules that Paramount and the two suitors agreed Toast month. Viacom owner of mtg Showtime and other Cable channels said its new offer would remain open until Jan. 21 and that ivc was required to extend its offer until then. Paramount said its Board would meet this week to consider the new Viacom offer. Viacom controlled by billionaire Sumner m. Redstone boosted the Cash portion of its bid for 50.1 percent of Par amount s shares by 23.5 percent to $105 a share from $85. Ivc led by former Paramount movie division Boss Barry Diller is offering $92 a share for 51 percent of Paramount s shares. But both companies Are offering Securi ties for the remaining Paramount Stock and analysts say the Stock Viacom has offered in the second part of its Deal is Worth far less than what ivc has offered. Inflation unemployment exp e it e d t o re main steady h. A a Washington a a majority of the nation s top economists say the Best . Economic performance in five years will have Little effect on inflation and unemployment this year. The consensus of 51 economists polled earlier this month by the newsletter Blue Chip economic indicators and released monday forecast 3 percent economic growth this year when adjusted for inflation. That forecast would represent the big Gest growth in the Economy since it expanded 3.9 percent in 1988. That projection was even stronger than the 2.9 percent estimate in last month s Blue Chip Survey. Despite the economic growth however the consensus saw the consumer Price Index rising just 2.8 percent this year Down from december s estimate of 2.9 percent. Robert j. Eggert editor of the Sedona ariz., newsletter said some Price pres sures Ane expected to emerge in 1995 As capacity utilization rates Rise and the Economy moves closer to full employ ment. " v but the Chi is still expected to in crease just 3.3 percent in 1995," he said. The Survey found Many of the economists also believe the unemployment rate would be 6.4 percent this year although it would fall to 6.2 percent in 1995. The rate stood at 6.4 percent in december. A major Factor contributing to this month s hike in the expected rate of eco nomic growth this year to 3 percent was the expectation that some of the economic momentum evident in 1993y final Quarter now forecast at an annualized rate of 4.2 percent would carry Over into 1994," Eggert said. Strength in housing autos and other consumer durables As Well As business spending for. Equipment is expected to persist into the new year he added. First Quarter inflation adjusted Gross Domestic product is expected to grow at an annual rate of 3  the Gap the total output of goods and services produced in the United states expanded 2.5 percent in 1989 and 1.2 percent in 1990 before shrinking 0.7 percent in 1991 As the recession was ending. The Economy then picked up 2.6 per cent in 1992 and according to the Blue Chip consensus grew 2.8 percent last year. The government will report the 1993 Gap figures on Jan. 28. Company dials up plan to new York times file some new York areas arc saying goodbye to the modern push Button telephones such As the one above and saying hello again to the old fashioned rotary phones. New York a thirty years after rotary phones began giving Way to push Button models older versions Are making a comeback As part of an Effort to disrupt drug dealing the new York times reported. The Rynex Telephone company has equipped about 250 outdoor pay Tele phones with rotary dials the newspaper said monday. Such phones Don t pro Duce beeping sounds necessary for use with a pager which drug dealers often use to Contact customers and couriers. But rotary phones Are so old fashioned that they Are no longer made in the United states so Rynex is pulling old ones out of storage. Similar switches have been made or Are being considered in other cities. In Lansing Mich., authorities late last year switched a handful of phones to rotary dials and they Are watching to see what Impact the old phones will have on drug dealing. In new York the move represents the latest in a series of efforts to try to keep drug dealers off Public phones. Other actions have included improving lighting in areas where pay phones Are located moving phones from known drug dealing areas and altering some phones so Only outgoing Calls can be made on them. The last tactic prevents customers from calling a drug dealer Back after being paged. Rynex spokesman Steven Marcus said the phone company decided to in stall the rotary phones at locations where the other alternatives have failed. The company installs them at the request of a Community Board or other neighbourhood group. Macy s not for Sale chief tells employees by the new York times in a satellite conference Call to employees of . Macy & co. On Friday Myron Ullman Iii the chairman an chief executive of Macy a vowed to keep the company Independent and whole de spite Federated department stores de sire for a merger. A videotape of the Call was made Avail Able sunday and while Ullman did not say much that he had not said already he spoke forcefully and with what appeared to be great conviction contending that he would be Able to keep Macy away from competitors. Macy s is not in play he told Macy s employees. Macy s is not for Sale. Macy s is not going to be broken up. That s our obligation and our  he dismissed reports that Dillard department stores inc. And May depart ment stores co. Might make a play for Macy. He said he had spoken with executive sat Dillard six or eight months ago to Tell them that Macy s was not interested in Selling All or part of its operations totem. He said that Dillard s investment banker Morgan Stanley & co., called last week to say if we could be helpful please let us know but that he told them he did not need help. But analysts say that Ullman s ultimate responsibility is to achieve the maximum return for Macy s creditors and that companies like Federated and other depart ment store chains May be Able to offer the creditors More than Macy s can alone. Federated has hammered on that Point in its meetings with creditors and in interviews. They have to maximize the value tothe creditor Community Allen ques trom the chairman and chief executive of Federated said in an interview last week. Federated made an unusual play to Combine itself and Macy s on Jan. 2, when it bought $449.3 million Worth of Macy s debt making itself a creditor and giving it a voice in Macy s reorganization. Referring to a merger with Macy a Questrom said i think they will not go out of their Way to make this  Ullman however assured his employees that Questrom had agreed that Macy s alone should develop a plan of reorganization. Kmart replacing older stores with larger outlets Troy Mich. A Kmart corp., the nation s no. 2 retailer plans to replace hundreds of its older discount stores with larger More modern ones and close 187 fits 1,200 Walden books stores. No layoffs Are planned the company said last week. It said that most of the employees affected will be transferred to other stores and that More jobs will be Cre ated. Kmart had planned to refurbish 300 of its older discount stores but scrapped that idea when it found its big new stores were much More successful against competitors such As Wal Mart chairman Joseph Antonini said. The retailer said it will relocate 650 stores consolidate 75 stores with nearby locations and keep 75 already closed stores shut. Kmart said that it will take a charge of $1.3 billion against 1993 earn Ings to pay for the overhaul and that earnings will also suffer because of poor clothing sales and Price markdowns