Russian c. bank to help pay foreign debt Apr-Jun
MD. 4th paragraph interesting.
MOSCOW, April 1 (Reuters) - Russia's central bank will dip into reserves which are at the lowest level in three years to help the state make foreign debt payments due between April and June, Chairman Viktor Gerashchenko said on Thursday.
He told a news conference he hoped gold and foreign currency reserves, which dropped to $10.9 billion last week from $11.2 billion a week earlier, would not fall to a critical level.
"In April, May and June we will fulfil our debts, help the government fulfil its (foreign) debts," Gerashchenko said.
The finance ministry and the central bank have been raiding cash reserves to support the rouble and make sovereign Eurobond payments. Reserves also include a substantial amount of gold, $4.15 billion of the total figure on March 1.
Russia owes around half a billion dollars in Eurobond payments, $1.6 billion on dollar-denominated domestic MinFin bonds and major payments to the London Club of foreign banks and the International Monetary Fund between April and June.
Gerashchenko, asked what a critical level of reserves would be, responded, "I was always bad at figures."
reuters.com |
