The conversion of the former east German command economy into a well-functioning market economy system is a unique challenge. New markets have to be tapped, supplier systems reorganized, and personnel retrained or enabled to improve their qualifications. Many factories in the former GDR were in such a derelict condition ecologically as well as technically that their continued operation would have been irresponsible. Nor could the transformation of industry be carried out without painful adjustments to the labour market. Without large-scale redundancies it was impossible to get the economy onto the road of productivity.
Competitiveness is, after all, essential for a company's long-term economic survival.
The government has introduced heavily funded job-creation programmes. The new owners of the privatized firms have undertaken to retain or to create 1.54 million jobs. On top of this they have bindingly undertaken to invest more than 180 billion marks, which promises a boost for economic growth and renewal in the years ahead. The Trust Agency intends to complete its work by 1994 at the latest. In the opinion of the Bundesbank the worst is over and economic growth there can become increasingly self-sustaining.