Oil-rich Russia wipes out US$23.7b Paris Club debt

Russia repaid in full more than 23.7 billion dollars owed to the Paris Club of creditor nations in a sign of the country's new economic power. "The sum of 23,737,038,657.61 US dollars has been transferred to the Paris Club of creditors," Russia's foreign trade bank, Vneshekonombank, said in a written statement.

The repayment is the biggest in the 50-year history of the creditor group and has become a point of pride for Russia, whose economy has been buoyed up by income from oil exports. The early debt repayment underscores a remarkable turnaround in Russia's financial fortunes, eight years after the government sparked a major financial and banking crisis by defaulting on debt payments. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia inherited foreign debts accumulated at the end of the Soviet era that amounted to some 70 billion dollars.

news.bbc.co.uk :

Russia has finished paying off its $22.5bn Soviet-era debt to the Paris Club of international sovereign creditors ahead of schedule. Its huge oil and gas wealth has allowed it to fast-track the repayments, and this has saved $7.7bn servicing costs. Moscow also agreed to pay a $1bn premium to certain creditors in compensation for lost interest. Some, including Germany, had objected to Russia repaying its debt in one lump sum because they would miss out.

- Good for Russia. More dollar dumping - not so good for the dollar.

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