Econ Ministry supports proposals for new bankruptcy mechanism - Ulyukayev
BRUSSELS. March 4 (Interfax) - Russia's Economic Development Ministry supports the proposal to introduce into Russian law a new bankruptcy mechanism analogous to U.S. Chapter 11, Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev told reporters in Brussels on Tuesday.
"This is a reasonable proposal that was suggested back in 2008. We started discussing it, but the crisis ended so quickly that the discussion wasn't finished at the time," he said.
"We unquestionably support this proposal, and I wouldn't say that it is only the Finance Ministry that made this [suggestion]," Ulyukayev added.
This case does not concern a bank of bad debts, he said. "This is completely different. There has not been a decision on a bank of bad debt. We talked about something else; a bank of bad debt is what handles banks. There's no need for this right now because the Central Bank and the Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA) are carrying out this function well. Another thing is the position of enterprises in the non-financial sector. This concerned created an institution that would resolve the issue with this sector's debt. There's no final decision here," Ulyukayev noted.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Russian newspaper Vedomosti reported Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseyev as saying that the government was discussing the idea of introducing an analogue to Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
This concerns a mechanism providing not for the sale of a bankrupt enterprise's property to satisfy creditors' requirements, but changing the owner and keeping a single property complex. This setup is actually already in place with banks' financial restructuring.
