EXPERT DOUBTS SOFT PEG OF RUBLE WILL WORK…

Andrei Illarionov,the director of the Institute of Economic Analysis, told Moscowradio July 8 that the Russian government’s soft peg of the rublewill not work as planned: the period for stabilization is tooshort and inflation remains too high. Illarionov suggested thatpegging the ruble in the range of 4300 to 4900 to the dollar untilOctober 1 was simply an effort by the Central Bank to shift responsibilityfor the government’s failure to deal with inflation.

… But Paramonova Sees Salvation in Credit Cards.