Zee Beam News

03.10.2005 16:31 MSK MosNews - On Monday, Oct. 3, the Central Bank of Russia published a report regarding the state of Russia's external debt in the period between Jan.1 and July 1, 2005. According to the report, in the first half of this year the total sum of Russia's external debt (including state debt and debt by private corporations) grew by seven percent from $215.1 billion to $230.3 billion. The sum of short-term debts grew from $36.1 billion to $39.2 billion, while the sum of long-term debt obligations increased from $179 billion to $191 billion. The sum of external debt acquired by state institutions decreased by 7.3 percent from $97.4 billion to $91.2 billion, while the debts of the Central Bank of Russia increased from $8.2 billion to $9 billion. The main share of growth came from the debts acquired by non-governmental institutions. The volume of Russian banks' debt instruments grew by 15.2 percent, from $44 billion to $50.7 billion. The debts of non-financial enterprises grew even more, by 21 percent. In the first six months of 2005 the sum of their debts grew from $65.5 billion to $79.4 billion. The report shows that record rates at which the Russian state is decreasing its indebtedness to foreign creditors are unable to contain the overall growth of the country's external debt. The main result of this growth is an increase in the volume of debt instruments held by non-state economic entities. At the same time this information shows that foreign banks are not afraid to invest in the Russian economy, and gladly credit Russian banks and companies.