ry that inherited most of the Soviet foreign debt. The immediate reason for the increase in Soviet foreign debt is the fall in the world crude oil price. In the past, the Soviet Union had derived approximately 80 percent of its hard currency earnings from crude oil sales. The crude oil price decline reduced Soviet crude oil earnings by 23 percent. Crude oil prices were a more important cause in the increase in Soviet external debt than was the well publicized economic restructuring--perestroika--in the country. Perestroika, at least in the early years of implementation, was not expected to increase the levels of Soviet external debt, as much as it was expected to result in a change in the structure of that debt, and of the level of risk associated with a part of the debt.Figures concerning the level of Soviet external debt are approximate. One major reason why approximation is necessary was the Soviet preference for the club (bilateral) loan. Such loans are usually quiet deals, which are "signed by a bank chairman on a courtesy visit to Moscow" (Shirriff, 1987, p.
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