On Jan. 1, Czechoslovak's Finance Minister, Vaclav Klaus, plans to remove most price controls, slash industrial subsidies and begin making the nation's currency convertible.

The Soviet plan did not envision making the ruble or any other Eastern European currency convertible, but rather denominating the value of goods traded in hard currency.

According to some reports the policy was the first step towards making the currency convertible.

One official said a plan was being drawn up for Poland, for example, in which Western governments and Japan would put $1 billion into a stabilization fund for the zloty to help make the Polish currency convertible.

The East Germans would have a currency convertible in the West and, if the West German Government offered them a favorable rate of exchange, it would effectively represent a substantial subsidy to the East German economy.

He said that to make the nation's currency convertible could well take up to 10 years as well.

But the country is expected to ease control over the exchange rate gradually after it joins the World Trade Organization, with a goal of making the currency convertible.

The Soviet Union's plans to devalue the ruble by 50 percent during the next two years for trade purposes, announced on Friday, should be welcomed as a first step toward making the country's currency convertible, several economists, analysts and executives said yesterday.

The key pillar in Poland's medium-term program, though, is a $1 billion stabilization fund that, among other things, will enable Warsaw to carry out a daring program of monetary reform early next year, including making its currency convertible.

Poland, where a "shock therapy" economic policy of removing subsidies and making the currency convertible was slammed into action in 1989, is the first country to show growth.