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Article: On the brink: the Soviet Union has so many economic problems that its seems invidious to single one out.
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- March 16, 1991
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1991 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Besieged by Boris Yeltsin on the one side and by the Communists old guard on the other, President Mikhail Gorbachev may find it hard to believe that one of his biggest threats comes from the Soviet Union's balance-of-payments deficit. Because it involves foreign banks and governments who can demand policy changes, and because the deficit is so severe, it may yet force President Gorbachev to have another shot at radical economic reform.
In order to finance its balance-of-payments deficit, the Soviet Union needs to beg, borrow or otherwise attract $15 billion of foreign capital. That is a huge sum. When the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently forecast that ...