G20 can agree on public debt reduction guidelines - Siluanov
WASHINGTON. April 19 (Interfax) - Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said he expected the G20 would be able agree on setting non-stringent debt parameters for countries.
This issue was the first for discussion at the meeting of G20 finance minister and central bankers, which began at 8.30 a.m. local time in Washington.
"This was the first issue today. We're talking about medium-term public debt parameters. Not about rigid indicators, but on guidelines for the dynamics of public debt reduction," Siluanov said.
He said is G20 colleagues had already said rigid parameters for lowering deficits and debt would impair the maneuverability of budget policy. "So on the whole I thought we would reach a compromise on the formulas - there should be guidelines that we aim for," he said.
The guidelines for Russia ought to be that debt does not grow substantially. "The level of debt can rise when we have very large budget deficits, but I consider that in our country, with 50% oil and gas revenue, we cannot allow ourselves large budget deficits. At most we should balance the budget, otherwise we would not narrow our non-oil deficit, he said.
