Russia plans to cover parts of its 2009-10 budget deficits from internal reserves and targeted borrowings from foreign markets, but will not use its allotted $8.84bln from the IMF, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said. According to the Finance Ministry, almost Rub100bln have been saved since the beginning of the year, which will enable it to bankroll all state’s expenditures in 2009.
However, it is obvious, that, despite such savings, Russia will still have to resort to external loans in the future to balance its strained budgets. Meanwhile, experts have attributed the decision not to take the IMF loans to Putin’s unwillingness to return Russia to the ‘wild 1990s,’ when the country lost its financial independence and became reliant on all sorts of ‘handouts’ from international financial organizations.
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