Wednesday, September 2, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
An Inter Press Service Feature
Rajiv Tiwari
- On the first reading of Russia’s draft 1995 budget in parliament Friday, lawmakers have shown a readiness to use their votes as a political weapon and challenge the government by stalling adoption of the fiscal blueprint.
Basic disagreements exist over the government’s income and expenditure plans for the next year which lawmakers say are unrealistic and will damage the economy.
Massive cuts in state funds to heavy industry, agriculture and regional administrations are envisaged to put tight curbs on government spending.
Yevgeny Yasin, recently-appointed economics minister, said: “It is high time to cut expenditure. This will not result in a substantial production fall though it may increase unemployment.”
According to the draft budget, state revenues will total 755 trillion roubles (one dollar is 3,220 roubles) while outlays are estimated at 826 trillion roubles, leaving a gap of 77 trillion roubles which is to be bridged through the issue of government securities, foreign investment and international credits.
Credit flows from the Russian central bank are to be severely slashed in an attempt to bring monthly inflation rates to 1.5 percent by the end of 1995, down from the current average of eight percent.
Lawmakers say the revenue estimates and inflation projections are fanciful and will probably withhold their approval, which president Boris Yeltsin can circumvent by simply dismissing parliament.
Mikhail Zadornov, head of the Duma committee on budget, taxes and finance Mikhail Zadornov has said that in its present form the draft budget will fail within two months of its approval since the optimistic forecasts have no relation to the reality.
He claims that pressure to release government funds for salaries, pensions, allocations to the cash-starved defence sector and other necessary outlays will force the government to loosen its pursestring with an inevitable default in the tight monetary controls which have been envisaged.
Yeltsin will chair a major conference to be held in the Kremlin on Saturday to be attended by top officials with representatives from parliament, Russian regions, state industries and private business.
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An Inter Press Service Feature
Paddy Agnew and Neila Nassim
- Senior Algerian opposition forces Tuesday demanded that the outlawed Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), be readmitted to the democratic process in strife-torn Algeria.
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An Inter Press Service Feature
Ihsan Bouabid
- The woman in the conference centre exhibition hall is 65 years old and she has travelled from afar.
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An Inter Press Service Feature
Susan Litherland
- A multitude of projects are being planned to put the grand ideas of the U.N. International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) into effective action on the ground, say the heads of the world’s family planning organisations.
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An Inter Press Service Feature
Ives Marie Chanel
- Haiti’s reputation as an environmental disaster zone – a barren, depressing landscape with vast areas of land left unused – was reinforced last weekend by the ravaging winds of Tropical Storm Gordon.
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An Inter Press Service Feature
David Rocks
- The croupier is calling for last bets in one of Eastern Europe’s great economic transformation games, but the roulette wheel will likely spin for another decade or so before the real results are known.
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An Inter Press Service Feature
Rajiv Tiwari
- Russia’s 1995 draft budget which was last month presented to parliament by Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin is likely to be rewritten by a new team of ministers who have this week taken charge of economic management.
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An Inter Press Service Feature
Susan Litherland
- Britain’s charitable sector is undergoing a role change that removes it far from the vision of Victorian philanthropy that has long endured in the public consciousness.
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An Inter Press Service Feature
Leila Deeb
- Delegates from 22 Middle East countries gathered at the Arab Region Preparatory Conference here have been at pains to point out that Islam is a religion which teaches them openness, love and moderation in the modern world.
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An Inter Press Service Feature
Leila Deeb
- Women and children in Lebanon and Palestine have suffered most from years of civil war and political and social instability in the region, say two academics attending this week’s Arab region preparatory meeting for the 1995 women’s conference.
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