Argentina won a standby agreement with the I.M.F. last September and received one payment of $240 million from its $1.4 billion allotment.

Mr. Ballan said the two investors were very different individuals, which may have accounted for the need for the standby agreement.

The United Nations has a standby agreement with more than 30 nations, including the United States, that have pledged troops or equipment.

Following these measures, Cameroon wins its first standby agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

But the officials said Russia would not meet an Oct. 1 deadline for a more formal standby agreement with the Fund.

The result has been a stalemate, complicating negotiations with the International Monetary Fund over the terms of a standby agreement for future credits.

The 14-month standby agreement authorized purchases of up to the equivalent of SDR82,000,000 (US$107,000,000).

The standby agreements of July 1981 and July 1982 were completed in July 1982 and January 1984, respectively.

The fund has granted Russia a first installment of $1.04 billion in credits, but he said no more fund money would be available until the detailed understanding, called a standby agreement, is signed.

The standby agreement is also taken as a seal of approval of fiscal and economic probity by private investors, who are holding back.