Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin says that Russia will be able to pay off its foreign debt in full by using additional revenues

Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin says that Russia will be able to pay off its foreign debt in full by using additional revenues, mobilizing internal loans, using remainders of the federal budget accounts and dividends from privatization. Addressing the Senators as the Federation Council upper house was discussing amendments to the 2001 budget, Kudrin explained that payment of the foreign debt would not interfere with raising wages for budget employees or with expenditures for national defense and the judiciary. Kudrin also pointed out that in spite of unfavorable forecasts in connection with the introduction of the new Tax Code, tax collection in the first months of 2001 was stable and demonstrated a positive tendency, while what concerned income taxes, the figure had even increased. He explained that thanks to all this, in March Russia would be able to honor unpaid January debts. The Federation Council has given its approval to the mechanism for redistributing additional revenues in the 2001 budget in favor of honoring the country's foreign debt.