NOTES….

The World Bank board at the end of May approved a $50 million structural-adjustment loan to Armenia “to facilitate private sector development and job creation.” A few days later the International Monetary Fund loaned Armenia $12 million, the first installment on a three-year, $87 million program under the Fund’s Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility…. Kazakhstan reported gross domestic product up 11 percent in the first quarter of 2001 over the first quarter of last year. GDP grew 9 percent in calendar year 2000, driven by high energy prices and a boom in exports…. Uzbekistan’s budget for 2001 allocates 8 percent of forecast gross domestic product to defense (the ministries of defense and internal affairs, the border troops and other security agencies). United States spending on defense is under 3 percent of GDP…. Tajik gangsters are taking over drug supplies in Samara and other Russian cities along the Volga. The United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention estimates that half the drugs consumed in Russia originate in or transit Tajikistan. Russian border troops interdict no more than 10 percent of the flow, according to Russian sources.