BUNDESBANK SEES NO CHANGE IN MONETARY COURSE
  The Bundesbank sees no current reason
  to change monetary course, vice-president Helmut Schlesinger
  told Reuters in a telephone interview.
      Schlesinger was responding to questions following remarks
  yesterday by Bundesbank board member Claus Koehler and West
  Berlin state central bank president Dieter Hiss, which, dealers
  said, revived some speculation that German interest rate cuts
  may once again be under discussion.
      Schlesinger said he had no comment on the remarks of his
  two central bank council colleagues.
      But he added that the last central bank council meeting on
  April 2 had discussed the economic situation with a mood of
  "subdued optimism," particularly influenced by the news brought
  by several state central bank presidents.
      "Much is going better than the impression gained by the
  public from the January figures, which have been in the
  meantime superseded," he said.
      German January industrial output fell 3.0 pct after a
  decline of 0.9 pct in December. New industry orders fell 1.9
  pct after they had been unchanged in December.
      Bank economists said that the two together showed the
  economy would either stagnate or contract in the first quarter
  of 1987.
      Aside from the economic developments, Schlesinger added, a
  steady monetary course was important to hold the dollar/mark
  rate around current levels as Bundesbank president Karl Otto
  Poehl had said while attending the Washington World Bank/IMF
  meeting.
      Asked, however, if the Bundesbank could move to cut rates
  on repurchase agreements at the setting of the next repurchase
  tender, due next Tuesday, Schlesinger said, "Since the central
  bank council gives its opinion on this theme only every 14
  days, this is hardly probable."
      Responding to the question whether the Bundesbank had moved
  away from a policy of targetting monetary growth toward one of
  targetting currency rates, Schlesinger said he could have no
  comment on the subject while negotiations were still in
  progress in Washington.
  

