|
Russia is ready to write off 65 percent of Iraq’s debt excluding interest, Russian Finance Minister Alexey Kudrin said on Saturday. He was speaking on the sidelines of a meeting in Boca Raton, Florida, of finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of Seven richest nations. "The Paris Club conditions will be applied in Iraq but in the Iraqi case it is 65 percent, not 80 percent," Mr. Kudrin told reporters. However, he did not say when the talks on the Iraqi debt could end.
In addition, Russia will write off 80 percent of the $10.5bn Afghanistan owes it, cutting it to some $2bn. By doing so, the Russian Federation confirms its role as the largest benefactor of poor nations.
Over the past five years, Russia has written $35bn in debts owed to it by the world’s poorest nations. In absolute terms, Russia is the third largest supporter of the poorest nations, and it holds the first position in terms of this support’s ratio to the GDP. According to Mr. Kudrin, historically it happened that Russia became the largest creditor of the poorest nations of both the former Soviet Union and the entire world. At the same time, Russia inherited the debts of the former USSR, but nobody wants to forgive those debts.
During his visit to the United States, Mr. Kudrin met with US Treasury Secretary John Snow. The meeting was short (20 minutes), and, according to Mr. Kudrin, the prospects for Russian oil companies in Iraq were not discussed, as well as the dollar’s weakening on the world’s financial markets.
The Russian Finance Minister said that, in his estimation, the Russian economy would grow 5.2 percent in 2004 if oil prices did not fall below $22.5 per barrel.
|
RUSSIA IN FACTS
