Russia ready to receive IMF mission, but too early to talk about its new timeframe - Finance Ministry

MOSCOW. Sept 19 (Interfax) - Russia is ready to receive a mission of the International Monetary Fund, which it decided to postpone, but it is too early to talk about a new timeframe for consultations under Article IV of the IMF Articles of Agreement, which deals with collecting and discussing the country's economic and financial data, the Russian Finance Ministry's press service told Interfax.

"The IMF told us that the fund's technical unpreparedness for consultations was a reason for postponing the mission. A new timeframe for the Article IV consultations has yet to be set, and it is premature to talk about specific dates at this point. The Russian side is willing to receive the fund's mission to meet its obligations under the IMF Articles of Agreement," it said.

The IMF earlier announced its decision to postpone the Article IV consultations with Russia, which it intended to resume on September 16 after a more than two-year pause. The decision was made to collect the required data and make an analysis for more thorough consultations, the Bloomberg news agency reported, citing a statement by a fund representative.

Earlier, Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina confirmed the bank's plans to take part in the Article IV consultations with the IMF.

A number of European Union member states intended to challenge the IMF's decision to resume annual consultations. In particular, France, Belgium, Poland, and a number of Baltic and Nordic countries said they were displeased with this step.

The IMF said that it decided to resume discussions with Russia on economic and financial data because regular Article IV assessments are not an option, but a mutual obligation of the fund and its member states, and are undertaken to meet the interests of all member states. The current regional economic situation is stable enough to resume consultations, it said.

Online discussions were scheduled to begin on September 16, while the visit of the IMF staff members to Russia for in-person consultations was scheduled for October 1.

Russia replaced its representative in the IMF ahead of the resumption of consultations, with former Central Bank First Deputy Governor Ksenia Yudayeva having been nominated to replace Dean of the IMF Executive Board Alexei Mozhin.