February 21, 1986

Because of an editing error, an article in Business Day on Tuesday about banking regulation incorrectly described the possibility of an increase in banks' minimum capital-asset ratios, to 9 percent from 6 percent. Regulatory officials have raised the possibility of a gradual increase for all banks, but have not formally proposed it.

Mayor Koch said yesterday that although he believes Transportation Commissioner Anthony R. Ameruso violated ''the spirit of the law'' by obscuring his involvement in a real-estate deal, he would not be dismissed because he has only a week left on the job. If Mr. Ameruso had not already resigned, the Mayor said, ''I would have fired him.'' To do so now, he suggested, would be ''a little too petty.'' The Mayor's remarks, during a crowded news conference at City Hall, came one day after his special corruption commissioner spent five hours questioning Mr. Ameruso about the downtown real-estate venture. No Violation Found The deal, in which Mr. Ameruso realized about $100,000, involved several partners, including William C. Brennan, a former State Supreme Court justice who was sentenced to prison last week in a Federal bribery case. The real-estate transaction came to light during that case and is being reviewed by Federal and city investigators.

A caption on Jan. 25 under a picture showing the presentation of a bust to Winnie Mandela, the South African anti-apartheid activist, omitted the name of the sculptor. He was Robert Berks.

The nation's economy grew at an annual rate of 1.2 percent in the final three months of last year, only half as fast as was estimated in January, the Commerce Department reported today. The department also revised a major inflation measure to show a slower rate of price increase - 3.9 percent instead of 4.5 percent. Today's report of weaker economic growth helped push interest rates down a bit in the credit markets while the dollar fell sharply. Although the revised data on fourth-quarter growth were lower than most economists had expected - mainly reflecting a further worsening of the country's trade deficit - the general reaction of analysts was to underscore a series of favorable reports for early 1986 that already have shown the economy to be rebounding smartly from its poorest year since the 1982 recession.

The price of commuter discount tickets on the Port Authority bridges and tunnels should be increased, to $1.60 from $1, the agency's chairman said yesterday. The toll, collected in one direction only, is $2. But, for $20, commuters can buy a book of 20 discount tickets, which are valid for 30 days. The increase, proposed by the chairman, Philip D. Kaltenbacher, as a way of dealing with increasing traffic, would be the first for commuters since 1975, It must be approved by Governors Cuomo and Kean.