Soviet Foreign Debt Put at $81 Billion

The Soviet Union’s foreign debt has topped $81 billion, far higher than previously reported, the independent Interfax news agency said Monday.

The figure was disclosed at a closed-door meeting of the Inter-Republic Economic Committee, formed to run the country after the failed August coup.

Just last week, the Soviet foreign debt had been put at $65 billion to $68 billion.

The Tass news agency quoted committee chief Ivan S. Silayev as saying after the meeting that the country’s hard currency situation is “very grave.”

Silayev said the committee was not satisfied with the information it had and told experts to prepare a fuller report before it meets again Wednesday, Tass said.

The West is increasingly concerned that the Soviet Union will not be able to meet its debt payments. Western investors are holding back because of fears of Soviet insolvency.

Interfax said that most of the debt has piled up since President Mikhail S. Gorbachev assumed power in 1985, but it did not give a specific figure.

The Soviet debt stood at $47.2 billion convertible rubles, Interfax said, which at the official exchange rate is more than $81 billion. That figure does not include up to 18 billion convertible rubles, or $31 billion, owed to former East Bloc countries that once were considered Soviet satellites.