The State Duma passed a much-delayed law Friday banning the Central Bank from giving the government credits not included in the budget.


The law, passed on its third reading by 282 votes to 0, means the government will have to use other methods to fund most of its budget deficit, forecast at around 8 percent of gross domestic product this year.


Western economists welcomed the move as a sign Russia was keen to tighten its monetary policy, but some were doubtful that the law would be properly implemented.


"Of course it is a good decision. But I am skeptical it can be carried out," said one economist who asked not to be named. "The budget is already tight. It would be very nice if it could be financed without more credits, but I am skeptical."


The State Duma, the lower house of parliament, has already approved credits to the government for the first quarter of 1995, charging a low 10 percent annual interest rate. The Central Bank's refinancing rate is 200 percent and consumer prices rose 16.4 percent in December.


The government, inheriting Soviet-era practices, has used inflationary Central Bank credits to close previous budget deficits but ministers have vowed to stop doing this.


But the government plans to issue securities and use international loans to meet most of its budget needs in 1995.


Plans for the 1995 budget were finally approved in the State Duma Wednesday. But a proposal to triple the minimum wage was also passed, casting doubt over the future of the government's spending plans.


Mikhail Zadornov, head of the State Duma budget commission, has said the pay hike will cost the budget an extra 30 trillion rubles ($7.5 billion) -- almost half of the planned 1995 gap.


The government has an almost impossible task of coming up with a budget to please all groups in the State Duma, as well as satisfying the International Monetary Fund, which is assessing whether to lend the Russian government $6.4 billion to help close the budget gap.


Some parliamentary factions represent the interests of huge, formerly state-owned industries, which employ thousands of people and are going through a long and painful privatization.


A top Finance Ministry official said Wednesday that any deal with the IMF was unlikely before March of this year.