Russia to pay off its foreign debts in 2003

Russia will be able to pay off its foreign debt in 2003 without its restructuring, as academician Abel Aganbegyan stated at today's press conference. According to his words, in 2003 the volume of hard currency and gold reserves of the Central Bank of Russia will reach $50bn, while the volume of Russia's foreign debt will amount to $17bn. "Nevertheless, the possibility of the restructuring of Russia's foreign debt, especially to the Paris club, shouldn't be neglected," stressed Aganbegyan. In his opinion, the current economic growth in Russia is not linked only to the increase of the world prices on oil, gas and other natural resources, RBC reports. "Only one third of the GDP growth can be explained by these factors," noted the academician. He also called a decision of the Central Bank to let the market to determine the exchange rate as one of the reasons of the economic growth in Russia.