Russia's foreign debts grow

Russia's external debts advanced by $2.7bn last year and amounted to $153.5bn as of January 1, 2003, the external and public relations department of the Russian Central Bank reported. Foreign debts of state agencies decreased by $8.5bn to $104.7bn in 2002, including $103.6bn of federal state agencies.

The amount of Russian foreign debts that emerged after the collapse of the USSR was $48.4bn in 2002. Debts of the former USSR amounted to $55.3bn as of January 1, 2003.

External debts of the banking system were $15.2bn on January 1, 2003, which was $1.6bn higher than on January 1, 2002. Debts of non-financial organizations totaled $33.6bn at the beginning of 2003, which was a $9.6bn gain compared to the beginning of 2002.