Conditions for passing Vneshtorgbank stocks discussed

The Russian Finance Ministry and the Central Bank have agreed on the conditions of passing the stocks of Vneshtorgbank, which suited both the Central Bank and the Russian government. This information was released by the department for relations with state and public organizations of the Finance Ministry. According to the bill on the amendments to the law on the federal budget for 2002, which will be discussed by the Russian government tomorrow, the Central Bank is to sell 42,117,403 stocks to the government at the nominal price of RUR1 (about $0.03) per share. The government is to pay for the stocks with state securities with a nine-year maturity and annual payment of 6 percent in coupon income starting in 2004.

The bill says that the Central Bank of Russia is granted the right to claim early redemption of state securities annually starting in 2003. The volume of the securities for early redemption is not to exceed the difference between the amount of profits transferred by the Central bank to the federal budget for the previous financial year, and the amount of profits suggested by the law on the federal budget for the corresponding financial year.

The bill also suggests granting to the Russian Government the right to repay the mentioned securities before maturity.

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