DUMA SKEPTICAL OF GOVERNMENT’S 1996 BUDGET.

Various Duma members told Izvestiya June 17 that they believed the government’s draft budget was based on overly optimistic assumptions: a monthly inflation rate of 1 percent, an end to the country’s economic slump, and holding costs down in the rebuilding of Chechnya. Government spokesmen told the paper that the costs of Chechnya would be in addition to the draft budget, and would require further cuts in other areas.

Russian Hard Currency Reserves Increase.