27 Nov 2021 10:00 30 years ago

Yeltsin on problems of economic reform

This news story first came out 30 years ago to the day, and we are publishing it today as part of Interfax's project, "Timeline of the Last Days of USSR. This Day 30 Years Ago." The project's goal is to reconstruct as fully as possible the timeline of the last few months of 1991 and to give everyone interested in understanding the historical processes of that period the opportunity to study and analyze the events that led to and accompanied the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of the new Russian state. The complete timeline can be found in Russian.


MOSCOW. Nov 27 (Interfax) - Prices will grow 200%-400% after they are liberalized, according to expert estimates, RSFSR President Boris Yeltsin said at a meeting with his local representatives.

And those estimates could prove to be too low, Yeltsin said. In normal conditions, trade and industry would be commercialized before prices are liberalized, he said.

But Russia has no time for such a gradual reform, he said. Carrying out reform when prices are growing would be “suicidal,” Yeltsin said, adding that this should be done only when prices stabilize.
He also advocated a simultaneous transition to market relations in all republics which intend to sign the political treaty.