Russia may have its hand out for aid but it has used only a small portion of $11 billion of commercial credits made available by Western governments for 1992.


From food credits to agricultural aid, Russia has left billions on the table. Even the International Monetary Fund's much-publicized $1 billion in standby credit has gone untouched.


Some of the reasons lie within the Kremlin, where the government is unable to decide which bureaucracies should handle which loans. Russia has also faulted its Western donor nations, who have in some cases imposed restrictions deemed too onerous.


But some Western observers find hope in another reason the aid has gone unused. They see the glimmer of fiscal responsibility in restrictions the government has imposed on new credits, and the ending of many import subsidies for all but essential goods.


Western businessmen regret the lost business but admit they can understand Russia's reluctance to go deeper into debt.


"Only a few people in the central government understand credit risk", a Western banker said. "The delays in drawing down credit are the first sign that the Russians are using normal business systems in making loans".


The loans were to make up almost half of the $24 billion target to Russia for 1992 agreed on by President George Bush and Chancellor Helmut Kohl of Germany in April. The remainder of the total was to come from multilateral aid and relief from repayments on the former Soviet Union's existing foreign debt, which is estimated at $70 billion.


Last week the German economics minister, Joergen Moelleman, met with Russian officials to discuss $1. 2 billion of export insurance made available to the former Soviet Union that has been not been used.


Only $2. 3 billion out of a total export insurance target of $3. 5 billion for 1992 has been issued. Moreover, Russia has drawn down relatively little of this total compared with Kazakhstan, Belarus and Ukraine.


Speaking at a press conference last week. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Shokhin said the main reason the bilateral credits had not been used was that the introduction of a single ruble exchange rate on July 1 had put the credits out of importer's reach.


The Russian government requires that importers deposit in the bank an amount in rubles equal to the loan. Importers are now forced to make the deposit at the prevailing exchange rate of 309 rubles to $1 rather than the old subsidized commercial rate.


Shokhin said that importers were asking for subsidies but that the government did not intend to help all the firms that asked.


Moelleman said "last week that the German government was advocating a relaxation of the 100-percent deposit rule.


Germany is not the only country with substantial unused credits tor imports. Shokhin said the reason for the failure to draw down the loans is a dramatic change in the way credits are distributed. In the past, credits were distributed to Russian ministries and companies for free. Under the new policy they are sold on a competitive basis.


Borrowers now must get a guarantee from a commercial bank and in most cases offer their own property as security. In addition, importers have to put up 20 percent of the hard currency for their purchases themselves, before they receive the loan.


Some of the loans also came with strings attached, Shokhin said. The final $750 million of $1. 5 billion of credits opened by Spain has not been drawn on because of a requirement that 20 percent of the value of the goods be paid up front in cash, he added, declaring, "Quite frankly we don't have the money right now".


France has opened up $900 million of credits mostly for agricultural


goods, according to French Embassy officials, and Canada has agreed to provide $100 million for industrial goods that Russia has barely called on.


Italy's credit lines to Russia have been closed until after the former Soviet Union's debt is renegotiated. The European Community last week announced that it would postpone a 349 million Ecu ($478 million) credit for the same reason.


But Shokhin said that 150 million Ecus ($205 million) of pharmaceutical credit from the EC would be opened within weeks.


He said that the credits have been delayed by disputes affecting the list of products to be imported and the government bodies that would administer the program.


The Export-Import Bank of the United States has barely started issuing $221 million made available for Russia, while the U. S. government has opened up $1. 15 billion of food credits.


The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has $1 billion of loans in the pipeline for Russia, of which 35 percent will go to the Russian government. To date only about $17 million has been issued.


For technical reasons, Russia has chosen not to draw a $l-billion credit facility opened by the International Monetary Fund, the first installment of a standby facility of $4 billion. Russia has left the money with the IMF because it says that Russian officials do not yet have the expertise to invest such big financial reserves.