User:Will Fernholz
Wikipedia Article Link: Economy of East Germany
Edits to Economy of East Germany:
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The GDR's growing hard currency debts were a cause of domestic instability. After the Polish crisis of 1980-81, the West imposed a credit boycott on Eastern Bloc countries, including East Germany. The sale of Soviet crude oil, previously an important source of hard currency, became less profitable due to changes in the world economy, and Soviet oil exports to the GDR were significantly cut in 1981[1]. A long period of underinvestment in research and capital goods made East German products uncompetitive on Western markets, leaving the country more reliant on the Soviet Union. The GDR faced insolvency in the early 1980s, delaying bankruptcy through negotiating oil imports with the Soviet Union and export loans with France and Austria.[1] The debt crisis was later averted through loans approved by West Germany in 1983 and 1984, in exchange for which the GDR agreed to loosen travel restrictions between the East and West.[1]
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- ^ a b c Graf, Maximilian (2020-07-03). "Before Strauß: The East German Struggle to Avoid Bankruptcy During the Debt Crisis Revisited". The International History Review. 42 (4): 737–754. doi:10.1080/07075332.2019.1641542. ISSN 0707-5332.