ABSTRACT
It was argued in Chapter 4 that hard currency shortages in relation to the demand for imports, combined with the reluctance of the leadership to sustain anything other than a modest level of debt in relation to the country’s apparent earning capacity, necessitated cuts in imports of western machinery and equipment on three separate occasions (in the mid-1960s, the late 1970s and the mid-1980s) in order to restore equilibrium to the current account balance of payments, following short periods in which deficits were incurred. This raises critical questions about the Soviet ability to generate exports which have major implications for the ability of the Russian economy to increase trade with the industrialised Western economies.
