Russia wipes out $22bn off its debts

business.timesonline.co.uk...

Putin hails the new economy as Russia wipes $22bn off its debts
By Gabriel Rozenberg

RUSSIA has finally paid off its Soviet-era debts to the Paris Club of wealthy nations in a dramatic display of the country’s new-found economic clout.
The repayment of $22.5 billion (£11.9 billion) that Russia’s Vnesheconombank made yesterday was the largest-ever repayment to the Paris Club of 19 creditor countries.

This is a massive move by the Russians. I wonder what effect this will have in the long run over Russia's influence over other regions.

Is this going to allow Russia back onto the world stage. I also read somewhere else that russia is going to completly wipe out 100% of it's debt to all countries by something like 2020 to 2025 which means that it will owe nobody anything.

I'm not impressed. After all, we (the US) will have spent this much ($22B) on Iraq during this summer alone! Of course all of it will be borrowed.

Originally posted by Aelita
I'm not impressed. After all, we (the US) will have spent this much ($22B) on Iraq during this summer alone! Of course all of it will be borrowed.

So whats your point again? It's hardly impressive that the united states spends borrowed money to pay for something that should never of happened in the first place...

So whats your point again? It's hardly impressive that the united states spends borrowed money to pay for something that should never of happened in the first place...

My point was to try and gage your sense of humor, and I failed.

Very good and smart of them. Hopefully the US files suit at some point in time.

Originally posted by Aelita

So whats your point again? It's hardly impressive that the united states spends borrowed money to pay for something that should never of happened in the first place...

My point was to try and gage your sense of humor, and I failed.

Anyways..

What does this mean for Russia? That the people will be given yet another reason to love putin, and for russia to set a base for it's own economy. Russia has moved to make the rubble a tradeable currency, this is a big step along with the oil burse. They can also emerge themselves as a creditor nation.

if russia continues to pay of it's debt's in this way it isnt going to be long before it has enough finances to seriously invest in it's military, it then will surely be in a position to challange (sp) for the title of "superpower" again

I for one hope the Russians manage to get back onto the world stage. they are a great nation of great people, and i am saying this an an English person who admires russian tenacity and courage.

Communism was real bad, and the cold war indeed needed to be fought as it was, but the Russian people as a whole were and are decent loyal people. Its good to see some sun shine coming onto them again on the world stage.

P.S.

Putin is a mean bad S.o.B who will be as bad as Stalin IF he gets his way and throws russia back into deep communism as he is trying to do.

Putin is the dangerman, but if the russian people see sense, the country will grow and prosper and communism will forever die in the shadows.

Awesome as this strengthens Russia as a member of the G-8. With this renewed Russia, we can only hope for the world to be a safer place and free from the dread of organized crime everywhere.

£12 billion is not all that much really Roman Abramovich is worth more than that!

hardly major news for an 'above top secret' thread.






[edit on 23-8-2006 by st3ve_o]

probably would be better if russia did become a super power again along with china, this would then force our goverments to invest in technology again and force the pace at which our aircraft and other technologies advance

Is it me or is this exclusively on account of the high oil prices and if so, can we see a far more powerful GCC (i.e. the Arabia Gulf)? It's all very suspicious to me in that regards and I guess we shouldn't forget Kazakhstan as well. Of course, oil prices will never come down because of the economies of China and India as such, there is an immense amount of speculation as to what exactly will be done with the newfangled oil revenues.

Originally posted by st3ve_o
£12 billion is not all that much really

Roman Abramovich is worth more than that!

hardly major news for an 'above top secret' thread.

That is true, this really isn't a large amount.

The guy on tv has a score of 720, if he had a higher score, he would get lower interest rates. Or so he says.

Most nations pay their debts. It makes the world go around.

The Brits could repay the UK’s WW2 debt to the US but what they? Interest is 2% so why pay that off early? It is due to pay out in 2011.



[edit on 8/23/2006 by donwhite]

This repayment of debt was not so much as to make Russia better off, as to show to Europe that Russia is ready to rise, and the tough economic period of the 90's is long over. This move might invite further investment by European firms in Russia. This might not seem like a lot of money for US, but for Russia it is. But at least the profit from NATIONAL oil industry and NATIONAL gas industry is flowing to the government budget now, and not into the hands of 5 oligarchs sitting on bags of money and controlling their puppets in Russian Government.

US and Europe might not agree with what Putin is doing regarding nationalizing the gas and oil industry (while there are still several different firms left, they are all under one roof now- Gazprom), for Russia it is the right move. National resources should belong to the nation and its people. The profits from oil and gas are now helping Russia jumpstart its economy, and invest into other fields some as industry, science, and military. Putin helped Russian economy as no one thought possible, and for that the Russians respect him. They might not like his politics, but Russia needed someone like that to get it back into pace.

I believe in the nationalisation of resources. Nothing hurt the UK as much as when we privatised our resources (water, gas, power, trains). They have all gone downhill so much since then.

I am happy Russia is getting back on there feet, its nice to see a country recovering.

Originally posted by maloyUS and Europe might not agree with what Putin is doing regarding nationalizing the gas and oil industry

Putin has not nationalized anything. It's just a different set of robber barons continues to line their pockets while there is erosion of healthcare, education and general living standards in the regions.

It is not nationalization in the sense that Kremlin is in charge of the whole industry. True that is was mostly transfer of control, to pro- Putin factions. However now the federal government is able to dictate the price of these resources, and has boosted its budget considerably. Overall itis benefiting the economy, and no one can argue that this is a bad thing. The oil/gas oligarchs of the past (like Berezovsky), wanted to go against Putin's administration, and could have used their power in resources industry to divide the country and form alliances with the West. This would just hurt the economy and national budget further, and send the money away from Russia. This would have been even worse than what we got now, so as far as I see it it is the lesser of the two evils.

Now about health care and social spending, I agree that outside large cities life is still far from perfect. There is no question however that the standard of living is on the rise in most regions. It has been less than a decade from Russian economic collapse (1998-2000). You cannot expect change in such a large country to take place overnight. However it is my belief that under Putin positive change is happening concerning social spending. The government has more money than ever, and at least some of it will trickle down to regular people.

Originally posted by D4rk Kn1ght
I for one hope the Russians manage to get back onto the world stage. they are a great nation of great people, and i am saying this an an English person who admires russian tenacity and courage.

Communism was real bad, and the cold war indeed needed to be fought as it was, but the Russian people as a whole were and are decent loyal people. Its good to see some sun shine coming onto them again on the world stage.

P.S.

Putin is a mean bad S.o.B who will be as bad as Stalin IF he gets his way and throws russia back into deep communism as he is trying to do.

Putin is the dangerman, but if the russian people see sense, the country will grow and prosper and communism will forever die in the shadows.

I feel the same way about Russia, being an America. If only we do not let petty leaders divide what could be a great friendship, and I hope Russia can avoid being consumed by an evil corrupt dictator.

I too would like a good relationship with Russia...But our relationship still pretty much sucks due to both sides of the equation. I would rather be friendly with Russia over China (and I mean to say only the Chinese government, not people). Not that I trust the Russian government either. But I like Russia better. And I think Russia's relationship with China is in response to NATO and the EU converting a lot of the countries around these two countries.