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To: Ted M who wrote (2820)	7/6/1999 7:16:00 PM
From: Ted M	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3576

Tuesday July 6 12:43 AM ET Russia Has Good Economic News Full Coverage Russia News By ANNA DOLGOV Associated Press Writer MOSCOW (AP) - A string of positive economic reports indicate a decline in Russia's monthly inflation and increases in foreign currency reserves and tax collections. First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko said Monday that inflation for June was estimated at 1.4 percent, according to preliminary figures. Inflation in May was 2.2 percent, he said. Government officials have sounded increasingly upbeat since the International Monetary Fund praised Russia's economic performance last week and said lending could be resumed. But any economic improvement has yet to trickle down to the general population, and millions of Russians continue to struggle to pay for food and housing. It appeared, however, that the sharp price hikes of last autumn have abated. Khristenko said the Central Bank's gold and currency reserves reached $12.2 billion, up from $10.7 billion earlier this year, the Interfax news agency quoted him as saying. He insisted that the government was also doing well in increasing tax collections - a key requirement for new IMF loans. Russia collected 44.6 billion rubles ($1.84 billion) in taxes and customs duties in June, surpassing the target of 41.1 billion rubles ($1.69 billion), Khristenko said. Sales of state property and other revenues brought an additional 3.8 billion rubles ($156 million) into state coffers in June, above the government's target, he said. Improved collections allowed the government to finance its expenses in full in June. It repeatedly fell short in preceding months. But the government still owes billions of rubles to state workers in wages and pensions for previous months, Khristenko conceded. Russia's most painful problem remains its huge foreign debts. Russia intends to allocate $10 billion in next year's budget for foreign debt payments, or just two-thirds of the $15.7 billion that is due, Khristenko said. Moscow missed a number of debt payments this year and now is desperate for a new IMF loan to avoid a potentially disastrous default. Also Monday, the Fuel and Energy Ministry said Russia produced nearly 150 billion metric tons (1.05 trillion barrels) of oil in the first six months of this year, down slightly from the same period a year earlier, Interfax reported.