Abstract
At present, one of the main lines of improving the balance method of planning is the introduction of the interbranch balance of production and distribution into statistics and planning. After the report [otchetnyi] interbranch balance prepared by the USSR Central Statistical Administration for 1959, the experimental plan balance for 1962 worked out at the Economic Research Institute of the USSR State Economic Council was a big step forward in the practical application of the interbranch balance for planning. The first stage in mastering the interbranch balance as an instrument for studying and planning the national economy has been completed. Of primary importance now, along with the problems involved in improving the interbranch balance scheme, are problems involving deeper understanding of the already existing scheme and more effective use of the data obtained on its basis. In particular, there are great possibilities in the chess balance of objects of labor as an instrument of synthetic planning.