CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00975A025900110001-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 29, 2003
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: December 31, 1973
• Content Type: REPORT

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Central Intelligence Bulletin
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c 204
December 31, 1973
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December 31,
Central Intelligence Bulletin
CONTENTS
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JAPAN - MIDDLE EAST: Tokyo is moving to implement
pledges made to Arab countries. (Page 3)
JAPAN: Budget outlays are to be cut in 1974 in an
effort to check spiraling prices. (Page 4)
SPAIN: Choice of new premier suggests renewed
emphasis on law and order. (Page 5)
FOR THE RECORD: (Page 6)
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JAPAN - MIDDLE EAST: Tokyo is moving to im-
plement pledges made y Deputy Prime Minister Miki
during his recent 19-day visit to the Middle East.
These include a $140-million loan to Egypt to help
reopen the Suez Canal, expeditious conclusion of an
economic cooperation agreement with Iraq, a step-up
in shipments of cement and plastics to the Middle
East, and an economic mission to Iraq and Egypt early
next year.
Minister of International Trade and Industry
Nakasone will also visit Iraq and Iran in early
January in a further effort to improve Japanese
access to Middle East oil.
During his last visa
to the Middle East in mid-1973, Nakasone made a
special effort to avoid identifying Japanese in-
tPr_Psts with those of other oil-consuming countries.
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Dec 31, 1973
Central Intelligence Bulletin 3
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JAPAN: Tokyo will limit its budget outlays
during 1974 in an effort to check spiraling prices,
but inflation will continue to be a serious problem.
The government has adopted a budget calling for
a 19-percent increase in outlays during the fiscal
year ending in March 1975--the first time in three
years the increase is to be less than 20 percent.
The sharpest slowdown in spending will be in public
investment which is scheduled to increase by only
14 percent above this year's initial budget.
The new budget reflects the first serious ef-
fort to use fiscal policy to slow inflation which
accelerated throughout 1973. By November, whole-
sale prices were 22 percent above the previous
year's level, while consumer prices were up nearly
15 percent. Tokyo estimates that the wholesale
price index rose by 5.5 percent in December alone,
and a further sharp increase is expected in early
1974 when the full effects of the latest oil price
hikes will be felt. Even before the oil price in-
creases, wholesale prices were expected to increase
during 1974 by 10 percent or more over the 1973
levels .
Dec 31, 1973
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SPAIN: General Franco's choice of Interior
Minister Carlos Arias Navarro as his new premier
indicates that the new government will place in-
creased emphasis on law and order following the
assassination of Arias' predecessor.
Arias, who has a reputation for toughness dating
from 1957 to 1965 when he was chief of Spain's secu-
rity services, is also known for his complete loyalty
to Franco. He lacks ties to any political faction,
and can be expected to carry on Franco's political
system in the post-Franco era. Arias is a staunch
monarchist and supporter of Prince Juan Carlos,
Franco's designate to be king when Franco dies or
is incapacitated.
The government's hard line toward dissent was
underscored on December 29 when stiff sentences were
imposed on the "Carabanchel Ten," dissident labor
leaders whose three-day trial began on the day Pre-
mier Carrero Blanco was killed. The ten were found
guilty of "illegal association" in trying to promote
a free labor union and received the maximum possible
sentences, which ranged from 12 to 20 years. Prior
to the assassination, there was some chance the
court might have imposed lighter sentences to coun-
ter foreign charges that the trial was proof of the
lack of political and labor freedom in Spain.
The country remains calm as the police continue
their efforts to apprehend the assassins, whom the
government has identified as members of ETA, an il-
legal Basque terrorist organization. The government
will play up the selection of the new premier as
evidence of the smooth functioning of its political
institutions in the wake of Carrero Blanco's assas-
sination.
Dec 31, 1973 Central Intelligence Bulletin
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South Vietnam: New fighting has broken out in
Quang Duc Province, but government troops appear to
be holding their own. According to a Saigon spokes-
man, North Vietnamese forces initiated the fighting
with artillery and infantry attacks against two gov-
ernment troop positions on December 28.
Turkey: President Koruturk has directed in-
terim Prime Minister Talu to continue to search for
a new government. According to press reports from
Ankara, Talu was instructed to work toward a "na-
tional coalition" in close cooperation with the
leaders of the Republican Peoples Party and the
Justice Party, the two strongest groups in parlia-
ment, both of whom failed to form a government on
their own. II
*These items were prepared by CIA without consulta-
tion with the Departments of State and Defense.
Dec 31, 1973 Central Intelligence Bulletin 6
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