Soviets OK New 5-Year Plan to Boost Economy

MOSCOW — The Supreme Soviet ended its summer session Thursday with approval of a new five-year plan to bolster the economy, calling for increased reliance on nuclear power, more trade with the West, higher worker productivity and the modernization of factories.

The 1,500 deputies of the nation’s nominal Parliament unanimously approved the plan, which is the 12th such plan, but the first drawn up under the 16-month leadership of Communist Party General Secretary Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

Few details were released, but a draft plan presented to the 27th Communist Party Congress last March called for sweeping reforms aimed at modernizing the vast and centrally controlled Soviet economy by 1990, with an emphasis on computerization and automation of industry.