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To: PaulM who wrote (12383)	5/29/1998 10:27:00 PM
From: Alex	Respond to of 116895

Paul; and who ever said there was no Santa Claus : - )

To: PaulM who wrote (12383)	5/29/1998 11:41:00 PM
From: Terry Rose	Respond to of 116895

Paul, One of the reasons I like buying gold assets besides the cheap price is all this IMF intervention. It should ultimately succeed in nothing more than delaying the inevitable recessions in these countries that it "intended" to help. The delaying actions are mainly to protect large institutional investors and once the money is gone natural forces take over. The most likely outcomes of the Asia crisis are a global recession or inflation due to all the money created to prevent it. Either outcome should be good for gold. Since I don't think the IMF has enough money to resurrect the economies of several countries I'm betting on global recession. Terry,

To: PaulM who wrote (12383)	5/30/1998 1:43:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 116895

Rating blow to Russia, but IMF cash due soon 04:56 p.m May 29, 1998 Eastern By Martin Nesirky MOSCOW (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund said Friday it would give Russia a much-needed cash injection soon to help tackle a financial crisis that has unsettled foreign investors and threatened market reforms. But as the IMF, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and President Boris Yeltsin praised government emergency plans to cut spending and boost budget revenues, credit agency Moody's signaled pessimism by downgrading Russia's sovereign debt rating. ''All ratings carry a negative outlook,'' Moody's Investors Service said in a statement. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko said Moscow did not agree with the move, which makes it harder for the country to raise money abroad. IMF Russia expert John Odling-Smee told a news conference he did not believe Moscow would have any problem seeking support at home or abroad, and that Russian markets would soon stabilize. The IMF's next $670 million tranche of an existing $9.2 billion loan was not too far off, he said, praising the Russian government's action plan to chase tax dodgers and cut spending. ''It should be possible to finalize the board meeting in a few weeks, certainly before the end of June,'' Odling-Smee said. ''The money would then become available within a couple of days.'' Market experts said Western governments and banks were mobilizing efforts to provide fresh support to Russia to help it avert an economic collapse. ''There is no question that governments and banks have been working around the clock talking about the possibility of supplementary support,'' said Stuart Brown, head of emerging market research at Paribas bank in London. In Washington, the Russian embassy said visiting former reform chief Anatoly Chubais, now head of electricity firm UES, was meeting U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers. It gave no further details. A run on the ruble and shares has depleted reserves and forced the central bank to treble interest rates to 150 percent. Friday, the ruble was fixed a shade firmer at 6.1380 per dollar but the benchmark RTS share index closed down 3.75 percent at 191.29, partly in response to the Moody's move. ''Everyone was expecting good news and we got bad,'' said ING Barings dealer Oleg Galkin. Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky said in Kazakhstan that all 11 other members of the Commonwealth of Independent States, loosely linking most ex-Soviet republics, would feel the effect of the Russian crisis. In Romania, there was panic share-selling. As promised by Yeltsin, heads began to roll in Moscow because of the financial problems. Russian news agencies reported that tax service chief Alexander Pochinok and Valery Chernyayev, in charge of the state-run Transneft pipeline company, had been sacked. The president put off a number of meetings, including with leading Russian businessmen, but he met Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko for the second day running to discuss a crisis which could affect political stability as well as market reforms. The government later issued an eight-page statement outlining its measures to tackle the twin problem of market turmoil and a budget squeeze. ''The reasons behind what has happened are quite clear,'' it said. ''They are linked to a juxtaposition during the same period of time of a series of negative factors, including the crisis on Asian markets and the falling prices of Russia's export goods.'' It said the government and central bank had been forced to ''perform a significant correction'' in their policies. Yeltsin said he was satisfied with the cabinet's approach. Germany, Russia's main Western trading partner, said it was also encouraged by Moscow's handling of the crisis. Kohl's spokesman said Yeltsin had told him by telephone that Russia would adhere to the plan worked out with the IMF. Yeltsin spoke to U.S. President Bill Clinton Thursday to seek moral support. Kiriyenko, 35, has been in office for just over a month. He chaired a meeting of a tax watchdog Friday, and Interfax news agency said eight companies had been told to cough up tax arrears by June or face possible bankruptcy. The government's statement said it would squeeze at least five billion rubles from 20 major corporate tax debtors. The 1998 budget, before the planned cuts, was 500 billion rubles ($81.4 billion), with revenues forecast to be about 368 billion rubles. The statement said an austerity package would cut spending by 15 percent overall. It said the government expected to raise at least 15 billion rubles ($2.4 billion) by speeding up privatization once the crisis was over. Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.