GROWTH PREDICTED FOR FORMER COMMUNIST COUNTRIES.

In a report published today, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) predicts that 1997 will be the first year of pan-regional economic growth in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Many of the countries in the region have already recorded economic growth, but the EBRD says that the likelihood that the Russian economy will grow this year should tip the entire region into overall growth for the first time since the collapse of communism. (EBRD report; see also Financial Times and BBC, November 3, and item below)

Chernomyrdin Authorizes Heating Subsidies for Two Regions.