nt.

In the context of the eventually abandoned program for economic
decentralization, provision was made for reducing the role of the
central government budget in financing investments and for increasing
participation by investors with their own funds and bank credits. In the
sphere of material production, excluding trade, budgetary allocations in
1965 accounted for 55 percent of investment, and bank credits made up 7
percent; in 1969 investment funds from these sources constituted 21 and
32 percent, respectively. The contribution from the budget, however,
rose again after 1969 to 28 percent in 1971, whereas bank credits
declined to less than 20 percent of the investment funds. The share of
investors' own resources, including funds of local governments,
increased from 36 percent in 1965 to 52 percent in 1971. Budgetary
investment funds are being increasingly concentrated on projects in the
fields of services and raw materials production.

A satisfactory explanation of the shifts in the pattern of investment
financing is not feasible in the absence of adequate information on the
changing methods of financing economic enterprises and organizations.
The announced government policy is to shift financing progressively from
the budget to the economic trusts. The shifts did not alter the
fundamental fact that all investment funds, excluding the small private
investment, remained public property subject to governmental controls
and that the difference was merely one of bookkeeping. The change in the
channeling of public investment funds was introduced in the hope of
increasing the effectiveness of their use.

The realization of major investment projects, particularly in industry,
has been made possible by very substantial technical and material
assistance from the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, serious shortcomings
have been officially reported in the implementation of investment
programs, both in industrial and in residential construction. The main
problem has been posed by the initiation of building programs that
exceed the capacity of the construction industry and the consequent
scattering of limited resources. The situation has been aggravated by
frequently poor project planning, inferior design, delays in the
delivery of machinery and materials, poor organization of work, and
slack discipline.

As a result of the difficulties in construction, the completion and
commissioning of new industrial plants has often been delaye