BUSINESS ABROAD: More German Miracles

West Germany’s astonishing postwar prosperity showed no signs of slackening its headlong pace in 1959, according to figures released last week in Bonn. As the nation’s gross national product rose 6.4% to $59 billion, there were many soaring statistics:

¶ Steel mills poured a record 29.43 million tons, up 3.1 million from 1958.

¶ Automobile plants built a record 1,718,-529 cars, 15% more than in 1958.

¶ Exports totaled $9.8 billion, a gain from 1958 of more than $1 billion. Main items exported: machinery, chemicals, electrical goods, autos.

¶ Long-term public and private loans overseas rose to more than $690 million.

Private investors snapped up $309 million in foreign stocks and bonds.

So well off is the average German that a recent survey showed that only one man in three and one woman in six now knows what a loaf of bread costs. There are so many more jobs than workers that Bonn’s Labor Ministry plans to bring in 100,000 Italian, Spanish and Greek seasonal laborers this year. Bonn’s prediction for 1960: another 6% increase in the nation’s G.N.P.