Economy Ministry posts pension figures

According to estimations of the Russian Economy Ministry, the averageamount of pension in the Russian Federation was 1,337 rubles ($42.38) inJuly, 2002, which was 31.2 percent higher than in the corresponding periodof last year. In real figures this advance was 16 percent, according to theMinistry's report devoted to Russia's social and economic development inthe period from January to July 2002 and forecast until the end of 2002.The organizations' debt on single social taxes that were transferred to thePension Fund amounted to 38.31bn rubles ($1.21bn) as of July 1, 2002,compared to 38.75bn rubles ($1.23bn) on January 1, 2002..