DEBT:
DEBT:
Most of the legislation needed to comply with the $4.5 billion IMF draft agreement has been sent to the Duma, according to First Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Maslyukov. If the IMF agreement enters into force, negotiations will begin on restructuring $16 billion in debt to official creditors that matures in 1999 and 2000. That includes $8 billion in Soviet-era debt maturing this year. Russian government officials say creditors may have to write off as much as 75 percent of Soviet-era debt, which totals some $40 billion to government lenders and $30 billion to private financial institutions.
