| The following item is a Memorandum of Economic and Financial
Stabilization Policies of the government of Russia, which describes the policies that Russia
intends to
implement in the context of its request for financial support from the IMF. The document,
which is the property of Russia, is being made available on the IMF website by agreement
with the
member as a service to users of the IMF website. |
Memorandum of the Government of the Russian Federation
and
the Central Bank of the Russian Federation
on Economic and Financial
Stabilization Policies Supplement
July 20, 1998
- 1. As the result of the decisions taken by both chambers of the Federal
Assembly at its session on July 15-17, a few changes have been
made to the program. Accordingly, this memorandum supplements
and modifies the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Stabilization
Policies dated July 16, 1998, describing how the government will be addressing the policy
issues in relation to the
personal income tax, the land tax, and the Pension Fund finances.
- 2. On the personal income tax, the measure to expand the base and shift
20 percent of the tax to the federal government was rejected by the
Duma last week. The Duma will be asked to reconsider their decision
and approve this law in a special session in August. Implementation
of this measure will be considered during the next review.
- 3. On the land tax, the measure to increase land tax rates was also
defeated by the Duma. Instead, a Presidential Decree has been issued
which increases the land tax rate four-fold as agreed in the program
(although the Decree does allow for a lower rate increase than
originally envisaged for urban land).
- 4. On the Pension Fund, the government has decided to pursue an
alternative strategy to bring the Pension Fund back into balance. A
government resolution has been issued that introduces, as of August
1, 1998, a temporary 2 percent payroll tax surcharge on the
employee contribution to the Pension Fund. This same resolution will
also expand the base for the employer contribution. The surcharge
will remain in place as long as the Pension Fund remains in deficit
or new pension arrears are being accumulated. In addition,
legislation will be proposed to the Duma in the special August
session, that will both expand the base for both employee and
employer payroll tax contributions to include wage and nonwage
income, and will shift the burden of the tax from employers to
employees. Should these measures prove insufficient to restore
Pension Fund balance by September 1, 1998, the government will
either reduce pension benefits or further increase the payroll tax
surcharge (in order to restore Pension Fund balance) as a condition
of the review scheduled for September 1998. To this end, the
government will provide information on the September 1, 1998
position of the Pension Fund by September 15, 1998.
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