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To: CYBERKEN who wrote (1535)	3/11/1999 12:16:00 PM
From: Baldur Fjvlnisson	Respond to of 2153

IMF Sees Light At End Of Long Russian Tunnel MOSCOW, Mar. 11, 1999 -- (Reuters) The International Monetary Fund held out hope on Wednesday for a breakthrough in talks with Russia, saying differences had been identified and a new mission was heading to Moscow to build on the progress. The IMF's senior Moscow representative, Martin Gilman, confirmed the mission would arrive on Thursday to follow up on a telephone conversation last week between IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus and Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov. "It is a return of a mission based on recent high-level talks between Mr. Camdessus and the prime minister which have identified remaining problems," Gilman told Reuters. "Progress has been identified in outstanding issues." The IMF, which has been negotiating with Russia for months over policies which might serve as the basis for new credits, has been withholding its support since last August's financial crisis torpedoed the program underpinning previous loans. IMF missions have so far failed to find common ground on key issues with government negotiators, led by First Deputy Prime Minister Yury Maslyukov. Some recent long-distance exchanges between the two sides have been frosty, but Primakov and Camdessus appear to have broken the ice. Gilman said the new mission would probably report back to IMF headquarters ahead of a meeting in Washington between Camdessus and Primakov on March 24. But no date has been set for the mission's departure. Asked about areas where progress has been made, Gilman said there was "a more common understanding of the underlying fiscal situation and what needs to be done." The new IMF mission will be headed by Gerard Belanger, not Jorge Marquez-Ruarte who headed previous missions. "It is a normal rotation of mission chiefs," Gilman said. Belanger, like Marquez-Ruarte, is a deputy head of the IMF's Second European Department, which is responsible for Russia. He took part in the last mission, which failed to reach a compromise with the Russians on an economic program. Russia, which sank into a deep economic crisis last August, needs a deal with the IMF to pay about $4.8 billion which it owes to the fund itself this year and to restructure debts to other foreign creditors. But Camdessus said last week the Fund would not give credits to Russia, its biggest loan recipient, on softer terms than those offered to other member countries. Maslyukov, who has overall responsibility for economic policy in Primakov's government, has accused the Fund of exerting "indecent" pressure on Russia by asking it to adopt policies which he described as unacceptable. However, Prime-Tass news agency quoted Maslyukov as saying on Wednesday there were no major differences, just some issues that required more work before Primakov's talks in the United States with President Bill Clinton and the IMF leadership. Maslyukov said all differences could be settled with the forthcoming IMF mission. But he ruled out raising revenues in Russia's 1999 budget by 100 billion rubles ($4.4 billion). "We cannot manage such incomes (without taxing the energy sector too much)," Interfax news agency quoted him as saying. $=22.98 rubles ( (c) 1999 Reuters)

To: CYBERKEN who wrote (1535)	3/11/1999 12:18:00 PM
From: Baldur Fjvlnisson	Respond to of 2153

Gazprom Rejects Suggestion Of Y2K Gas Crisis MOSCOW, Mar. 11, 1999 -- (Agence France Presse) Russia's Gazprom giant on Wednesday shrugged off suggestions that the "millennium bug" computer problem could trigger an export shutdown and leave parts of Europe short of gas, Itar-Tass news agency reported. Gazprom chief spokesman Gennady Yezhov told the agency that the gas monolith was "bewildered" by comments from a CIA analyst, who said that because of the company's ageing computer system it was a prime target for the year 2000 software glitch. Gazprom "has practically unraveled the Y2K problem," Yezhov was quoted by Itar-Tass as saying, adding that the company's gas transportation control system had been equipped with up-to-date computers, and new software for data control had been prepared. CIA official Lawrence Gershwin told a U.S. Senate special committee on the millennium bug that parts of eastern Europe and former Soviet republics could experience gas shortages due to Gazprom's "potential" computer problems. With its ageing infrastructure, nuclear capability and acute cash shortage, Russia appears more vulnerable than most to the so-called Y2K problem in which computers are seen malfunctioning due to software confusion over the new date. As a space-saving device, early computer chips only used the last two digits in dates to identify years, a gaffe which means some computers cannot distinguish 2000 from 1900 and could thus fall prey to crippling errors in logic. But Yezhov said Washington's concern was misplaced. "Bewilderment arises as to why such concern is shown on the other side of the Atlantic in the United States, which does not receive Russian gas, while no one in Europe expresses such misgivings," Yezhov said. ( (c) 1999 Agence France Presse)

To: CYBERKEN who wrote (1535)	3/11/1999 12:20:00 PM
From: Baldur Fjvlnisson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2153

Russian Oil Shares Up Sharply In Early Trade MOSCOW, Mar. 11, 1999 -- (Reuters) Russian oil company shares rose sharply in the first hour of trade on Thursday on exceptionally strong turnover that drove major indices to their highest so far this year. Volume on the main market, the Russia Trading System (RTS), was $5 million at 0900 GMT. RTS turnover was led by oil major LUKoil (LKOH.RTS), up 8.3 percent to $6.50, and Surgutneftegas SNGS.RTS, up 8.35 percent at $0.1155 -- year highs for both companies. The RTS1-Interfax shares index (.IRTS), comprising deals on the main RTS over-the-counter market, was up 5.95 percent to 81.08 by 0945 GMT, while the broader Reuters real-time Russian composite (.RRC1) was up 8.42 percent to 241.85. Traders said the gains were based on a combination of factors including healthy growth of world oil prices, the strong performance of Wall Street and optimism over talks between the International Monetary Fund and Russia. "Some (investment) is oriented on news while other investment is oriented on technical analysis. At the current time, these factors have happily coincided with one another," said IBG NIKoil senior trader Andrei Kukk. Share prices jumped late Wednesday after the IMF's Moscow representative said a telephone conversation last week between IMF head Michel Camdessus and Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov had identified remaining problems, paving the way for an IMF mission to return to Moscow on Thursday. ( (c) 1999 Reuters)