Washington, 13 November 1996 (RFE/RL) - A team of experts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will arrive in Moscow Thursday to resume its review of Russia's financial situation, especially focusing on tax collections.
The team left the Russian capital in late October without completing its regular review which is required for the monthly disbursement of drawings from Russia's 10.1 billion, three-year loan from the fund.
Russian Finance Minister Alexander Livshits said in Moscow Monday that he is hopeful but uncertain about how quickly that delayed tranche will be disbursed. He met with the number two official in the IMF's department that deals with Russia, Yusuke Hariguchi, in advance of the team's arrival.
Livshits told a press conference that Hariguchi made clear the IMF is watching Russia's tax collections closely. "They are showing us shortcomings in the fulfillment of our promises for the entire program," he said.
Revenues have begun increasing, according to the Russia tax service, running at around 74 percent of projections in October and rising into November.
Livshits says they have improved enough now to allow the government to start financing more sectors of the state budget.