Looks like the ruble is diving already.
MOSCOW, Aug 15 (AFP) - The spectre of economic collapse looming
over Russia caused President Boris Yeltsin to move his holidays
closer to Moscow Saturday, ahead of a crucial week for the country's
embattled financial future.
Yeltsin vowed Friday not to break off his holiday for fear of
escalating anxiety about the financial crisis rocking the country.
But his country house at Rous, which is around 100 kilometres
(60 miles) northwest of Moscow, is 300 kilometres closer to the
capital than Valdai, where he has been on holiday since the
beginning of the month.
However his shift in holiday destination may do little to calm
investors' worst fears.
Meanwhile Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko met Saturday with
central bank chairman Sergei Dubinin, foreign finance negotiator
Anatoly Chubais and Finance Minister Mikhail Zadornov for talks on
the crisis, Interfax news agency reported.
The president is due to meet Kiriyenko on Monday.
Chubais and Dubinin interrupted their holidays to return Friday
to Moscow at the behest of the government, following a black week on
the Russian stock market.
For the first time, Russian banks on Friday closed their bureaux
d'echange after running out of dollars, or limited the number of
transactions into the US currency.
There were fears that a liquidity crisis could throw the Russian
population into panic, pushing the banking system closer to meltdown
and forcing a devaluation of the ruble.
That scenario was avoided, but observers await Monday with
foreboding.
Russia's central bank was forced to help several banks honour
their debt repayments, particularly SBS-Agro, one of Russia's top 10
banks.
Another major bank, Imperial, halted its transactions Friday. A
bank employee denied that this was as a result of the financial
crisis, citing instead computer failure which was due to be remedied
by Monday.
Faced with possible financial collapse in Russia, international
investors took refuge in the dollar, which rose in trading in Europe
Friday against the deutschmark and the yen.
In a bid to reassure the jittery markets, Washington and Moscow
hinted at an encouraging telephone conversation between Yeltsin and
US President Bill Clinton.
Yeltsin's press department, cited by Interfax news agency, said
Clinton expressed "firm support" for efforts made by the Russian
leadership to end the financial crisis.
The Russian president's scheduled meeting Saturday with Economy
Minister Yakov Urinson, whom he had lashed out at on Friday, could
be postponed until after the weekend, reported NTV private
television.
Yeltsin had said Urinson had not found his bearings and accused
him of "lagging behind and dragging us down."
The Russian press meanwhile made little attempt to calm fears of
collapse.
"The ruble fell, only the central bank won't recognise it," said
the Kommersant daily on Saturday, reporting that in bureaux
d'echange one dollar was buying eight rubles, a big difference to
the inter-bank rate of 6.31 rubles.
"Everyone was without cash," wrote the Segodnia daily, adding
that the dollar went for 8.5 rubles on the black market. |
