MOSCOW PRESSES SEARCH FOR WESTERN INVESTORS.

Russian state propertycommission chief Sergey Belyayev told representatives of Western firmsthat Moscow would need to sell 20 trillion rubles worth of propertythis year if the government were to realize the 9 trillion rubles ofstate income from such sales, Rossiiskie vesti reported May 26. That isthe amount Moscow has said it would earn in order to keep its budgetdeficit at levels acceptable to the IMF and World Bank. So far thisyear, however, the second stage of privatization has brought theRussian government virtually no income at all.

Economics Minister: Russian Government Misuses 40 Trillion Rubles.