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To: goldsnow who wrote (23641)	11/30/1998 6:47:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 116762

Russia Delays Budget Plans Again Monday, 30 November 1998 M O S C O W (AP) RUSSIA'S GOVERNMENT canceled a budget debate Monday, one day before a visit by the head of the International Monetary Fund - which is demanding a sound budget as a condition for giving more aid to the crisis-ridden country. The budget discussion was first rescheduled Thursday, then postponed until next week. The government insisted the delay was not connected with the visit by IMF chief Michel Camdessus, but gave few other details. The Cabinet of Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov has warned Russia would suffer serious problems if it doesn't get more aid from the IMF. But the IMF and Western governments say they won't provide any cash until Russia adopts a realistic budget. Russia's shaky markets, aggravated by the Asian crisis, collapsed in August after the government defaulted on treasury debts and effectively devalued the currency. Since then, the government has produced no comprehensive plans to tackle the crisis. The IMF froze a $22.6 billion loan package in August after the crisis erupted. Still, the Russian government is including IMF aid in next year's budget. Alexander Pochinok, a senior economic policymaker, was quoted as saying Sunday that a 1999 draft budget assumes that Russia will receive the remaining $17.5 billion from the IMF-led bailout package reached in July - an inclusion criticized by the IMF mission that visited Moscow earlier this month. But the IMF, under increasing criticism for its policies amid economic troubles worldwide, is also eager to ensure that Russia pays off its debts to foreign creditors, including the IMF. "For the (IMF) at this point it's very embarrassing to have Russia not pay," Parvoleta Shtereva, an analyst with the Moscow brokerage MFK Renaissance. The IMF has assailed the government's 1999 budget revenue forecast as too optimistic and criticized the government's plan to lower some taxes and offer support to ailing industries.