(Fwd) Russia - IMF

[ifi@foeint.antenna.nl]

------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
From:          "Jozsef Feiler" <jfeiler@zpok.hu>
To:            "MDBs CIS list" <mdbs-cis-l@ecn.cz>
Date:          Thu, 19 Feb 1998 23:10:24 +0100
Reply-to:      "Jozsef Feiler" <jfeiler@zpok.hu>
Priority:      Normal
Subject:       Russia - IMF


RUSSIA HOLDS DIFFICULT TALKS WITH IMF. Talks between Russian and IMF
experts continued into the night on 18 February, ITAR-TASS and Reuters
reported. IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus arrived in Moscow the
previous day for talks before the fund decides whether to extend the next
tranche of its three-year, $10 billion loan to Russia. On 18 February, he
met with Chernomyrdin and senior officials including First Deputy Prime
Ministers Anatolii Chubais and Boris Nemtsov. Later the same day, an
unnamed Russian source told ITAR-TASS that a "mass of problems" emerged
during negotiations with the IMF. Among the disputed issues are IMF demands
that Russia reduce tariffs on oil imports and introduce duties on oil
transports. (Yeltsin last month vetoed a law that would have established
such duties.) The IMF also objects to a recent presidential decree granting
tax breaks for some foreign investments in the automobile industry.
"Kommersant-Daily" on 19 February reported that the IMF conceded on all
those points. LB



________________________________
"You must be the change you wish to
  see in the world."
                               Gandhi
________________________________


***********************************************
Roberta Brook Cowan
IFI Programme Coordinator
International Financial Institutions Programme
 
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