MOSCOW, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Russian Deputy Prime Minister
Viktor Khristenko said on Tuesday he saw no danger of Russia
failing to meet foreign debt obligations and ruled out issuing
new Eurobonds at current low prices.
"The question of a Russian default simply has not been
posed," Khristenko told a news conference.
Russian foreign debt has been trading at record low levels
this week due to what dealers described as a lack of confidence
in the government's ability to extricate the economy from crisis
and an oversupply of Russian paper.
Some dealers thought the market was pricing in the risk of
default.
Khristenko said Russia will not need to return to
international capital markets soon, but if the market recovers a
new issue later this year was not fully ruled out.
The Finance Ministry says it will not return to the Eurobond
market before the end of October, and will only issue a maximum
of $2 billion by the end of the year if conditions are right.
Khristenko said: "Nobody said anything about possible
placement in August or September. What was discussed was
evaluating the possible prospects for going into this market in,
let's say, October, in sufficiently limited volume."
"If the talk is of 30 percent yields, then of course there
can be no placement at such prices," he said.
"As for our programme of financing for next year, will it
collapse? No it will not collapse. The main sources of financing
are not linked to the placement of Eurobonds on the overseas
market," he said.
REUTERS
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