The New Economic System (German: Neues Ökonomisches System) was an economic policy that was implemented by the ruling Socialist Unity Party (SED) of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1963. Its purpose was to replace the system of Five Year Plans which had been used to run the GDR's economy from 1951 onwards. The System was introduced by Walter Ulbricht in order to give centralised control to the economy to be run in as efficient a manner as possible.
Its main aims were to reduce the wastage of raw materials, increase the level of mechanisation used in production methods and, most significantly, to create a system in which quality rather than quantity was foremost. It was also used to rebuild the economy following the Republikflucht which had devastated the GDR's economy prior to the building of the Berlin Wall on 13 August 1961.
The System was largely successful and was replaced in 1968 by the Economic System of Socialism which concentrated on building up the GDR's hi-tech industries.
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