Posted on 02/10/2009 8:13:01 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Russia denies $400 billion debt restructuring
Today, 14:06 | Reuters
MOSCOW, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Russia denied seeking to restructure as much as $400 billion in companies' foreign debts on Tuesday after a Japanese newspaper said a local banking lobby group had asked the government to help negotiate with creditors.
The report in Japan's Nikkei newspaper prompted a sell-off in the euro, which dropped more than 1 percent against the yen and dollar before denials from Russia and the banking lobbyist who was cited as a source for the story.
"The government of the Russian Federation does not plan to consider the issue of restructuring the corporate debt of Russian banks and companies," Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin told Reuters.
Kremlin chief economic aide, Arkady Dvorkovich, said no such proposals had been made and that Russian corporates were continuing to service debt as normal.
Nikkei quoted Anatoly Aksakov, president of the Russian Association of Regional Banks, as saying the group had asked the government for help in talks with creditors.
Aksakov later told Reuters the corporate debt restructuring plan was only an idea and had not been submitted to the government.
(Excerpt) Read more at kyivpost.com ...
Ping!
If there wasn't major doubt, he wouldn't be saying it.
Kind of like when someone says, "you can trust me" - you can't. Or "I won't hurt you" - they will. Or "it's not about the money" - it's about the money...
If someone wrote that Russia was going to start farming Unicorns, do you think Putin would bother to refute it?
The difference is that one is probable (bailing out companies), in the light of the current global economic crisis, while the other (unicorns) is not.
But, being probable is not the same as being true - and that is why they denied it.
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