2800 FIRMS WON’T BE PRIVATIZED.

Russian State PropertyCommission chairman Sergei Belyayev told Interfax June 30 thatMoscow will not privatize some 2809 firms, including many banks,enterprises in extractive industries, and those firms that supplyfood to distant regions. The list is to be published this week.In other remarks, Belyayev acknowledged that Russia will not comeclose to the nine trillion rubles in revenues it had planned forthis year through privatization of state owned enterprises. Inanother move that may play havoc with privately owned banks, theCentral Bank, finance ministry, and tax service have decided toforce such banks to pay taxes on backyear profits not earliertaxed. Bankers told Russian radio June 30 that they had no fundsto make such payments.

Russians Decrease Purchases of Hard Currency.