Railroad Ministry to transfer $3.2bn in taxes and obligatory payments in 2002

The subsidiaries of the Russian Railroad Ministry are planning to transferover RUR100bn (around $3.17bn) in taxes and obligatory payments to budgetsand non-budget funds in 2002, according to the data prepared by theRailroad Ministry for today's government meeting, at which the progress ofthe structural reform of the railway transport will be considered. Thetotal debt of the Russian railroads was around RUR154bn (around $4.88bn) atthe beginning of this year, including a debt of RUR52bn (around $1.65bn) tothe budgets at all levels, RUR40bn (around $1.26bn) to suppliers andcontractors, RUR143bn (around $4.54bn) - to non-budget funds and RUR11bn(around $349.2m) to banks. In total in January-July of 2002 over RUR53bn (around $1.68bn) weretransferred to the Russian federal budget and non-budget funds by theRussian Railroad Ministry. The ministry's debt to suppliers and contractorsdropped by RUR190bn (around $6.03bn) in the specified period, while theremaining part of the debt of RUR20bn (around $634.9m) is expected to berepaid before dividing functions and establishing a joint-stock company..