Centrist Duma Factions To Meet With Finance Minister Over 2001 Budget

The coordination council of four centrist Duma factions - Yedinstvo (Unity), Fatherland-All Russia, Regions of Russia and People's Deputy - are going to hold a meeting with Finance Minister Alexey Kudrin tomorrow. This meting will be devoted to the implementation of the 2001 budget, said Gennady Raikov, leader of the People's Deputy faction, who initiated this meeting. Participants of the meeting are going to discuss the repayment of debts to housing and communal agencies, an increase in salaries of budget employees in regions and republics and the possibility of writing off some debts of Russian regions. Raikov thinks that about 3 or 4 billion rubles (about $101 or 135 million) can be allocated for the repayment of housing and communal debts from additional budget revenues.