SPAIN: Facing Up to Austerity

With the nation's dollar reserves just about gone and some of its industries near bankruptcy. Generalissimo Francisco Franco decided to face the unpleasant facts. Last week he agreed to a sweeping austerity program in order to qualify for "at least $200 million" in credits from the International Monetary Fund and two other agencies, including' an undisclosed amount from the U.S., which already pours $200 million a year into Spain. Among the austerity reforms:

ΒΆ Devaluating the peseta from 42-to-the-dollar to 58, as well as ending the Spanish government's practice of juggling 13 different rates of exchange for imports and...

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