News In Brief

Soviet economy said to be improved under Andropov

The Soviet economy improved significantly last year under President Yuri Andropov's campaign for greater efficiency and economic reforms, according to statistics released Sunday. The figures from the Central Statistics Board showed industrial output grew by 4 percent in 1983 and labor productivity by 3.5 percent.

Western economic experts estimate that inflation-adjusted economic growth in the Soviet Union last year was closer to 2 percent, taking into account internal price increases. They said this was a clear improvement over 1982, when the official figure for growth in industrial output was 2.8 percent, the smallest increase since World War II.