THE SECOND STAGE OF PRIVATIZATION.

The State Property Committee has announced a three-part program for the second phase of privatization: some 7,000 enterprises are to be sold at auction, the shares of a second group of firms will be given to national commercial banks, and for a third group–consisting of firms that are too large for domestic investors–the state will issue bonds to be sold both at home and abroad, Segodnya said April 26 But resistance even to this plan is growing: Two major banks–the Savings Bank and the Foreign Trade Bank–are unlikely to be privatized, Kommersant-Daily reported April 28. And the leaders of Gazprom, an enterprise which would fall into the third category, have come out against the proposed scheme, Birzhevye vedomosti (no. 17) noted.

The Ruble: Up or Down?