MULFORD SAYS G-6 WANTS STABILITY Treasury Assistant Secretary David Mulford said the Paris agreement among leading industrial nations is intended to produce "reasonable stability" in exchange markets over the next few months. He told a Senate Banking subcommittee the Group of Five nations and Canada agreed in Paris to "see if there can't be a period of reasonable stability instead of volatility" to give time for the committments in Paris to take place. Asked by Sen Phil Gramm (R-Tex) whether U.S. intervention was not in fact overvaluing the dollar, Mulford replied that the administration judged that after economic adjustments, current exchange rates reflect underlying economic fundamentals. In particular, the stability sought by the nations would allow West Germany and Japan to stimulate their economies domestically and the U.S. to cut its budget deficit, Mulford said in his testimony. He stressed that a further sharp fall in the dollar would hurt the ability of Germany and Japan to boost growth. Mulford noted that half of West Germany's economy was affected by international developments. He also said increased Japanese domestic growth would result in more U.S. exports to Japan and would not necessarily lead to greater Japanese capital flows to the U.S., as Gramm asserted, if Japan reformed its domestic capital market. Commenting on the Paris agreement, Mulford said, "I think exchange rates ought to be stabilized so (Germany's and Japan's) efforts can be carried out. Mulford rejected Gramm's argument that faster domestic growth in Germany and Japan would result in an even lower dollar. Mulford said the administration wanted to achieve a pattern of higher growth overseas as a way of improving the U.S. trade deficit. Otherwise, he said, the trade deficit would be resolved either through a much lower dollar or a U.S. recession, both alternatives he termed unacceptable and undesirable.