The International Monetary Fund was due yesterday to approve a $4.5 billion loan programme for Russia, its first since the country's previous accord with the IMF was shattered by a disorderly devaluation of the rouble last August.

The IMF board debate began around midday in Washington and was expected to last for several hours. Mr Mikhail Kasyanov, finance minister, said this week he expected to receive the first $630 million tranche of the IMF loan by the end of the month. But the minister stressed the money could only be used to repay maturing IMF loans.

Nevertheless, formal IMF approval of a new programme would trigger the release of additional loans from the World Bank and the Japanese government, Mr Kasyanov said. It would also enable the Russian government to enter into formal debt restructuring talks with the Paris Club of sovereign creditors and the London Club of commercial creditors.

Russia's capital markets have largely anticipated the release of fresh IMF credits. But Mr Philip Poole, east European economist at ING Barings, the international investment bank, said the IMF's stamp of approval on Russia's economic programme would still be important.

"Although Russia is running a very large trade surplus, the central bank and the government have been unable to capture these flows and there is a continued capital leakage. The IMF money will be very important for government financing through to the end of the year," he said.