MOSCOW, August 17. /TASS/. Default does not threaten Russia at present in any form and the Russian economy has absolutely nothing similar to developments occurred in 1990s, ex-Chairman of the Bank of Russia Sergei Dubinin (from November 22, 1995 to September 11, 1998) told TASS in an interview on the 20th anniversary of the default.
"We have no significant sovereign debt, particularly the short-term, domestic one. Default does not pose a threat to us in any way. The Russian sovereign debt on the whole, including the international one, is less than 20% of GDP. It is balanced by currencies. The floating exchange rate is a very good tool that does not give any promises to pay debts at a fixed rate. Nobody expects this. The banking system is relatively stable in this regard," the ex-official said.
Russia announced a technical default on main types of sovereign debt securities to the amount about $72.7 mln twenty years ago, on August 17, 1998. One of the main reasons of crisis was the oil price collapse to $9.1 per barrel. According to estimates of the Moscow Banking Union, Russian economy lost $96 bln from the crisis in August 1998.
Threat of global crisis
The global economy at present hardly faces a crisis of a scale occurred in 2008-2009, Dubinin says.
"We are more likely to see higher frequency of financial crises without transition to a severe stagnation. Frankly speaking, I do not think that the crisis of the scale in 2008-2009 threatens the global system. It has adapted to challenges it faces," he adds.