Russia holds difficult talks with IMF

By Jozsef Feiler, mdbs-cis-l@ecn.cz, 20 February 1998

Talks between Russian and IMF experts continued into the night on 18 February, ITAR-TASS and Reuters reported. IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus arrived in Moscow the previous day for talks before the fund decides whether to extend the next tranche of its three-year, $10 billion loan to Russia. On 18 February, he met with Chernomyrdin and senior officials including First Deputy Prime Ministers Anatolii Chubais and Boris Nemtsov. Later the same day, an unnamed Russian source told ITAR-TASS that a “mass of problems” emerged during negotiations with the IMF. Among the disputed issues are IMF demands that Russia reduce tariffs on oil imports and introduce duties on oil transports. (Yeltsin last month vetoed a law that would have established such duties.) The IMF also objects to a recent presidential decree granting tax breaks for some foreign investments in the automobile industry. “Kommersant-Daily” on 19 February reported that the IMF conceded on all those points. LB