Imf, Russia Reach Agreement, Extend Loan
The IMF and Russia agreed on an economic programme for Russia for 1998, and agreed to extend the overall three-year programme into a fourth year to the end of 1999, International Monetary Fund managing director Michel Camdessus said yesterday.
Today with Prime Minister (Viktor) Chernomyrdin we have adopted a joint communique, Camdessus told a news conference. With the full endorsement of the President (Boris Yeltsin) (we) agreed to an extension of the EFF (extended fund facility) for an additional year to the year 2000, he added.
The presidential press service confirmed in a statement that Camdessus had proposed extending the three-year EFF for a fourth year into 1999, with a corresponding allocation of additional credits.
The President of the Russian Federation reacted positively on the whole to this proposal and ordered the government of the
Russian Federation to examine it, said the statement, issued as Camdessus was talking.
Neither Camdessus nor the Kremlin statement said how much extra money was involved. The current three-year EFF is for about $9.2 billion, and pays out quarterly tranches of about $670 million, if Russia meets programme targets.
The Kremlin press service statement said Camdessus and Yeltsin had agreed that payments in 1998 would be made according to the previously agreed schedule. It did not mention the tranche for the fourth quarter of 1997 which is still outstanding.