Government Approves Reorganization Of Vneshekonombank

The Russian government approved the concept of reorganization of Vneshekonombank that was proposed by the Central Bank. This reorganization provides for dividing the bank into a commercial bank Vneshekonombank of the Russian Federation and Vneshekonombank of the USSR that will be servicing Russia's debts. In the future, Vneshekonombank of the USSR will be reorganized into a specialized agency for servicing state debts and will receive some functions of the Finance Ministry, in particular, the right to hold negotiations with international financial organizations. Incumbent head of Vneshekonombank Andrey Kostin explained that they decided to preserve the old name of the bank - Vneshekonombank of the USSR - for some time in order to reduce risks of demands from creditors on pre-term debt repayments. He stated that the most important documents necessary for the reorganization will be ready by December 1, 2001 and the implementation of this plan will start in the first quarter of 2002.