Business

Since early this summer, the finance ministers of the seven leading industrial countries have seemed almost powerless to tame the surging U.S. dollar. They agreed the currency was too high and, in the long run, threatened to aggravate the U.S. trade deficit. But their desultory attempts to push down the greenback prompted suspicion that the G-7 group had lost its clout. Last week the finance ministers made a concerted effort to bring the dollar down by intervening in the currency markets. The U.S. currency fell nearly 5% against the yen and about 4% against the deutsche mark by week's end.

Even so, some currency experts believe that the dollar will rise again in the next six weeks to three months, since U.S. interest rates remain relatively high compared with levels in Japan and West Germany. The prime reason for high U.S. rates is the heavy Government borrowing necessary for financing the budget deficit.