Russia to need additional 26 bln rubles to service state debt in 2015 - Nesterenko
MOSCOW. April 13 (Interfax) - The Russian Finance Ministry may amend the 2015 budget to provide an additional 26 billion rubles for servicing sovereign debt, First Deputy Finance Minister Tatyana Nesterenko told journalists.
"Our budget currently earmarks just 6 billion rubles for debt servicing on new paper. There is no more left. That's it. For that reason there is a serious issue here, connected with the fact that most likely we will amend the budget, find money for servicing. According to our calculations, the shortfall totals about 26 billion rubles," she said.
The problem with servicing sovereign debt emerges even assuming that current domestic borrowing plans are unlikely to be met this year.
"Our overall borrowing plan right now is about 1 trillion rubles, of which 200 billion rubles are linked, leaving 800 billion rubles. We borrowed 98 billion rubles in the first quarter, so we have 700 billion rubles remaining to the end of the year, which will likely be impossible," she said.
But the debt servicing cost issue will arise even if borrowing in the remaining quarters only equals the first - about 100 billion rubles each, she said.