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To: EPS who wrote (23644)	8/28/1998 7:18:00 AM
From: EPS	Respond to of 42771

Friday August 28, 10:05 AM Global turmoil overshadows elite Fed conference By Knut Engelmann JACKSON HOLE, Wyo., Aug 28 (Reuters) - Top economic policy makers from around the globe gathered in a remote U.S. mountain retreat on Friday just as their worst nightmare was playing out in world markets: a seemingly unstoppable financial meltdown. The serene beauty of the surrounding Rocky Mountain peaks was in stark contrast to the growing sense of fear among many of the central bankers, academics and finance professionals who convened for what was billed as a largely academic three-day conference on issues of income inequality. The backdrop of sharp falls in equity markets around the world, prompted by mounting concern that the collapse of Russia's economy and the raging crisis in Asia could cause a global downturn, provided a scary backdrop for the 22nd annual symposium of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank, traditionally held in August. "This (meeting) is held year after year in August because, I presume, everybody thinks nothing ever happens in August," Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan told the conference during the opening dinner on Thursday. "Here we are again, in the doldrums of August." Greenspan, who reportedly spent much of Thursday enjoying a quiet game of golf, avoided any direct reference to the raging turmoil in global markets. But other conference participants were less reticent. "This really is a crazy place to be right now, with all that's going on in the world right now," said one. Greenspan was scheduled to kick off the conference's first session on Friday with a brief set of introductory remarks that Fed officials indicated were likely to focus on the symposium's official topic. But after Friday's scheduled luncheon speaker, Thai Finance Minister Tarrin Nimmanaheaminda, canceled his appearance here on short notice, Fed officials swiftly moved to put a brief discussion of international developments on the agenda. Stanley Fischer, the International Monetary Fund's First Deputy Managing Director, also canceled his planned trip to Wyoming, deciding instead to remain at his desk in Washington. News of his cancellation came just after IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus called a meeting of the IMF's top executives to review his emergency trip to the Ukraine on Wednesday. Camdessus had traveled to the Crimean peninsula for crisis talks with Russia's acting Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma. The IMF, backed by the United States and other key economic powers, put together a $22.6 billion rescue package for Russia aimed at restoring international market confidence in the country's battered economy. But Moscow spent most of the first tranche of the package on a failed defense of the rouble. Despite the financial bailout, Russia effectively devalued the rouble, which has since continued to plunge against major currencies, and declared a 90-day moratorium on repayment of some foreign credits. The Russian government said it is likely to announce details of a short-term rouble debt restructuring plan on Friday. The rouble's breathtaking decline has not only rattled financial markets around the world but also sparked a panic among ordinary Russians as they rushed to withdraw savings from commercial banks that appear increasingly shaky. The central bank is expected to suspend currency trading through Friday.