<P> Fedorov's anticrisis program and the Government's accord with the Central Bank had some effect . In the first three quarters of 1993, the Central Bank held money expansion to a monthly rate of 19% . It also substantially moderated the expansion of credits during that period . The 1993 annual inflation rate was around 1,000%, a sharp improvement over 1992, but still very high . The improvement figures were exaggerated, however, because state expenditures had been delayed from the last quarter of 1993 to the first quarter of 1994 . State enterprise arrears, for example, had built up in 1993 to about 15 trillion rubles (about US $13 billion, according to the mid-1993 exchange rate). </P> <P> In June 1994, Chernomyrdin presented a set of moderate reforms calculated to accommodate the more conservative elements of the Government and parliament while placating reformers and Western creditors . The prime minister pledged to move ahead with restructuring the economy and pursuing fiscal and monetary policies conducive to macroeconomic stabilization . But stabilization was undermined by the Central Bank, which issued credits to enterprises at subsidized rates, and by strong pressure from industrial and agricultural lobbies seeking additional credits . </P> <P> By October 1994, inflation, which had been reduced by tighter fiscal and monetary policies early in 1994, began to soar once again to dangerous levels . On 11 October, a day that became known as Black Tuesday, the value of the ruble on interbank exchange markets plunged by 27% . Although experts presented a number of theories to explain the drop, including the existence of a conspiracy, the loosening of credit and monetary controls clearly was a significant cause of declining confidence in the Russian economy and its currency . </P> <P> In late 1994, Yeltsin reasserted his commitment to macroeconomic stabilization by firing Viktor Gerashchenko, head of the Central Bank, and nominating Tatyana Paramonova as his replacement . Although reformers in the Russian government and the IMF and other Western supporters greeted the appointment with skepticism, Paramonova was able to implement a tight monetary policy that ended cheap credits and restrained interest rates (although the money supply fluctuated in 1995). Furthermore, the parliament passed restrictions on the use of monetary policy to finance the state debt, and the Ministry of Finance began to issue government bonds at market rates to finance the deficits . </P>

Where does russia fall on the economic continuum