RUSSIA EXTENDS RUBLE BAND FOR ANOTHER YEAR.

The chairman of Russia’s Central Bank, Sergei Dubinin, announced yesterday that the ruble’s sliding peg exchange rate will be extended until the end of 1997. The ruble will be allowed to fall in line with inflation by a steady 0.3 to 1.1 percent a month against the U.S. dollar. It will begin 1997 within a range of 5,500 and 6,100 rubles to the dollar, and should finish the year at between 5,750 to 6,350 to the dollar, Dubinin said. (Itar-Tass, AP, November 26) Russia’s inflation rate has fallen steadily this year and is expected to total around 20 percent for the year as a whole. The government is predicting an inflation rate of 12 percent for 1997.

VAZ Threatened with Bankruptcy, May Face Takeover.