RUSSIA TO BECOME WORLD’S GREATEST DEBTOR NATION.

The director of the Institute of Economic Analysis, Andrei Ilarionov, says that Russia’s foreign debt may reach $130 billion by the end of this year. This would put Russia at the top of the world’s debtor list, ahead of Brazil which owes $122 billion. Ilarionov added that Russia’s external debt problem is aggravated by its huge domestic debt. The problem of servicing and repaying foreign and domestic debts is becoming a real worry. Debt service and repayment rose to 7.3 percent of Russia’s GDP in the first half of 1995, compared to 1.7 percent in 1994. According to Ilarionov, the refinancing alone on already-circulating government securities amounts to about 4 percent of Russia’s GDP. (5)

Russia Will Try to Arrest Georgadze.