April 17, 1981

The Reagan Administration's chief regulator of savings and loan associations said here yesterday that ''the industry is clearly viable'' and added that ''I think it is very unlikely that this Adminstration would be highly interested in a massive subsidy program of any type.'' Richard T. Pratt, the new chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, said that, although most of the nation's 4,581 savings and loan associations were operating at a loss, they ''should look to their own resources and their regulators to get through this period.'' Addressing the annual meeting of the New York Federal Home Loan Bank, he forecast ''a substantial number of mergers'' over the next five years.

Housing starts rose 5.8 percent in March, to a relatively weak annual rate of 1.28 million units, the Commerce Department said yesterday. But the issuance of building permits for future construction across the nation, continuing a slide that began late last year, slipped 3.2 percent. Given rising mortgage interest rates, the slide in new building permits and the relatively low annual rate of new home starts, some industry experts predict weakness in the housing industry in coming months. Effects of High Mortgage Costs The annual rate of housing starts in March was 23.5 percent higher than that of 1.05 million logged in March 1980, the start of a slump in the housing industry that resulted in part from high mortgage costs.

International The prospect of preliminary arms talks on resuming negotiations to limit American and Soviet nuclear weapons in Europe was raised by Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr. His aides said that full negotiations were probably months away. (Page A1, Col. 1.) Israeli jets staged raids in Lebanon, striking at several suspected Palestinian guerrilla strongholds. Earlier, two teen-aged Palestinian guerrillas trying to enter Israel by balloon were shot down and killed in a gunfight with Israeli soldiers. (A3:1-3.)

When Claire C. Chasnov, assistant director for A.T.I.C., a French association that buys coal in North America, meets with American coal executives, she typically offers them advice on how to grab a share of the growing export market for coal. ''Gentlemen,'' she says firmly, ''until you get it out of the country, you haven't sold it.'' Coal executives have apparently taken her words to heart. In the past year, there has been a flurry of announcements detailing plans to expand coal-handling installations at ports along the East Coast. New projects have sprung up so quickly that a Government study has already warned of overcapacity in the future.

El Arish in Sinai grows again now that Israelis are gone A2 Soviet blocks Lebanon peace plan at U.N. A3 Polish farmers win backing in Parliament on a union A3 East Germans re-elect Honecker and stress party discipline A4 Bonn braces for violence as leftist hunger striker dies A4 Eight Canadian Premiers offer constitutional plan A7 South Africans seize Bishop Tutu's passport A8 Six African leaders attack Reagan policies A8 Government/Politics South Dakota court backs state in amending $50 million tax error A10 Defense in Abscam case warned against irrelevant testimony B5 General Around the Nation A10 Doctors find 31 former hostages are ''functioning well'' A10 Cedar Rapids patiently waits for U.S. turnaround A14 GOOD FRIDAY Parking - Alternate-side parking suspended. All other rules in effect. Sanitation - Regular collections; no street cleaning. Federal, state and municipal offices -Open. Post offices - Open. Banks - Open in New York City; most closed in New Jersey and Connecticut. Stock and commodity markets -Closed. Transportation - Subways, buses and Conrail normal; some extra trains on Long Island Rail Road. Libraries - Open. Public schools - Closed.