g sufficient calories, however, the state often was required to supplement Soviet agricultural production with imported grains, and food quality and variety was often inadequate. The importation of grain created a significant drain on Soviet hard currency reserves, and inadequate food quality and variety generated consumer discontent, which grew to the level of a national scandal.
Net Soviet foreign debt increased 17.2 percent in 1986, to a level approximating US$30 billion (Rossant, & D'Anastasio, 1986). In 1987, it rose yet another 16.7 percent, to approximately US$35 billion (Shirreff, 1987). By 1990, it has been projected that Soviet external debt could reach a level of US$53 billion a further 51.4 percent over the three year time period.
A net external debt of US$53 billion would not ordinarily be a worrisome level for an economy the size of that of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union, however, opposes on principle external debt for itself. The importation of grains is not the major source of the growing
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