Finance Ministry Releases Data On Russia's Debt To IMF

On January 1, 2002, Russia's state debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) dropped by almost $1.4bn to $7.427bn (5.915bn SDRs), compared to $8.803bn (6.756bn SDRs) as of January 1, 2001. A source in the Russian Foreign Ministry reported this in an interview with RosBusinessConsulting today. Last year, our government paid off $2.1bn of the above-mentioned debt. In addition, the Central Bank of Russia repaid an IMF credit worth $2.7bn ahead of schedule. In 2002, Russia's debt to the IMF will further decrease and may amount to 4.856bn SDRs (around $6bn). In general, Russia received about $18.265bn from the Fund since the beginning of their collaboration. $12.765bn of this amount were repaid. The greatest debt of our country to the IMF was registered at the beginning of January 1999, i.e. equal to $15.3bn (about 10.9bn SDRs). At the same time, the debt of our country to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development went up to $223bn as of January 1, 2002, compared to $194bn in January 2001.