Leading Russian bankers and businessmen have agreed at a meeting with President Yeltsin to draw up proposals to restore confidence in the country's financial markets and the economy.

The president's spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky said he couldn't give details, but the programme would cover the tax system, the problem of non-payment of wages, and tariffs on gas, electricity and the railways.

Mr Yeltsin himself would present a plan to parliament at the end of the month.

At the meeting in the Kremlin the president told the ten business leaders that foreign investors were pulling out because Russian companies themselves were not investing.

Financial markets have recovered about five per cent from the lows they hit on Monday.