23 May 2004 05:51
Chukotka govt. denies district`s bankruptcy
MOSCOW. May 23 (Interfax) - The government of the Chukotka autonomous district has denied allegations that the
district has gone bankrupt and said that it is still capable of paying off its debt to the state.
"The term 'bankrupt region' cannot be applied to Chukotka today. Moreover, by law this term cannot be
applied to a region of the Russian Federation. Under the budget law, given the present situation, we can only speak
about transferring the execution of the Russian region's budget to the Russian Finance Ministry's control on
condition that this region is not in a position to service and pay off its debts," says a report from the Chukotka
government circulated on Sunday.
"And the Chukotka autonomous district is fully capable of making payments on the debt incurred by the previous
government of the Chukotka autonomous district. This has been proven by the fact that the district's [current]
government managed to get its debts owed to the Russian Finance Ministry and Rosreserv [the Russian State Reserve
Agency] restructured, as well as repay its credits to a number of commercial banks, including its credits related to the
Northern Plant," the statement says.
The document quotes the district's first deputy governor, Andrei Gorodilov, as saying that "Chukotka's
state debt exceeded its budget revenues by 14 times in 2000, but this figure now stands at only 2.3 times."
The Chukotka government also criticized the Audit Chamber's auditor, Sergei Ryabukhin, who handled the
district's latest audit. In 2001, Ryabukhin personally examined Chukotka's state debt, "but made no
statements about the district's bankruptcy," although its financial situation was worse at that time.
"Such remarks by Russian Audit Chamber officials do not reflect the actual financial situation in the Chukotka
autonomous district, and discredit the authorities' efforts to pay off the district's debts and improve its
socioeconomic situation," the statement says.
Ryabukhin said on May 21 that the results of the Audit Chamber's check suggested that the Chukotka autonomous
district had effectively gone bankrupt since its state debt was more than two times its own budget revenues. On January
1, 2004, Chukotka owed the state 9.3 billion rubles, including overdue interest payments. The district's budget
revenues stood at 3.9 billion rubles in 2003. Under the Budget Code, a region's maximum state debt should not
exceed its budget revenues.
The autonomous district's governor is Roman Abramovich, owner of Britain's soccer club Chelsea. [RU EUROPE
EEU EMRG POL ECI] tm aw
[Interfax] |
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