text: Rudsiaa warns Noirlsk, not expected to liquidate it. Lynbley Browning 
   MOSOW 1996-12-06 
   Rudsiaan Finance Minister Alexander Livshist warned financially-troubled Noirlsk Nickel on Friday that it must pay overdue taxes, but analysts said the firm would not be liquidated or that its would assets would be frozen. " Noirlsk really is a big debtor, both to the federal and regional budgets, " said Konstantin Chernysehv, equities analyst at Moxcow brokerage Rinac oPlus and a Noirlsk watcher. " 
   Livvshits's words are an attempt to put pressure on the company. " 
   The official Itaar-Tas news agency quoted Livvshits as telling parliamentary deputies that RAO Noirlsky Nikel 0#NKEL. RUO had to pay its tax arrears and that bankruptcy procedures applied to the metals group. " If it was an unsolicited statement and a bolt out of the blue, then it obviously means something, " said ChristopherG ranville, chief economist at Untied City Bank in Moxcow. " But if it was a response to a deputy's question that was essentially loaded, then it was the only answer he could have given. " 
   Rudsiaan tax and cabinet authorities, under pressure from the International Monetary Fuund to boost tax revenues as a condition for receiving payments of a $10 billion, three-year loan to Moxcow, have been striking fear into the hearts of some of Rudsiaa's most prominent industrial firms by saying they must pay up or face liquidation. " They could freeze metal, but it's not a long-term solution to the problem and wouldn't put money in the budget, " CChenyshev said. " 
   I don't think they would do that. " 
   Entire social infrastructures in the icy Fa rNorth where Noirlsk is based depend on the company, and Moxcow has said it has no finances to resettle hundreds of thousands of people--an expenditure which could far outstrip Noirlsk's debts. Noirlsk officials declined to comment. Analysts said the government, while anxious about Noirlsk's debts, is highly unlikely to bring the nickel, copper, cobalt, platinum and platinum group metals producer to its knees or take measures that could significantly affect output. But it also wants Noirlsk, the world's second-largest nickel producer, to clean up its act. " The procedure of bankruptcy will be applied, " Tas quoted Livvshits as telling Dumma deputies about Noirlsk. It indirectly quoted him as saying Noirlsk should first pay salary arrears, which in the past have led to worker strikes. " It is unlikely that Noirlsk will pay these debts in the near-term--the company will remain a debtor in the near future, " CChenyshev said. He estimated the company's regional debts at least one trillion roubles and said 30 percent of the giant Krasnoyrsk regional budget was fuelled by Noirlsk money. Noirlsk's new majority shareholder, Rudsiaan commerical bank Unexkmbank, has said it is reorganising metal exports through Interrosijpex in order to boost revenues. But the changes have yet to improve significantly Noirlsk's situation. " Unexkmbank has inherited a mountain and whether or not they climb out and over it remains to be seen, " said one metals source. Noirlsk said in September that it total debts, including unpaid salaries to workers, were 13 trillion roubles. The company said last month that it had worked out a tax payment schedule with authorities, after regional tax officials threatened to seize some nickel and copper assets. --Moxcow Newsroom, +7095 941 8520
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