Russia increases financial assistance to developing countries to $800 mln in 2009
MOSCOW. Feb 17 (Interfax) - Russia, according to preliminary statistics, provided around $800 million in financial assistance to developing countries in 2009, an increase from $220 million allocated in 2008, Russia's Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said that the international conference New Partners in Global Development Finance.
"We are boosting our support for development and also working together with international financial institutions," Kudrin said.
Kudrin said that during the financial crisis, the majority of country donors have maintained their support of development at an earlier level. Several donors, such as Russia, have increased their financial support, he said, adding that several donors had frozen and reduced expenditures for such projects.
World Bank President Robert Zoellick said that since the onset of the crisis in the middle of 2008, the bank had taken on the responsibility of providing $89 billion in financing to developing countries. These funds, in part, were put towards supporting the most vulnerable parts of populations and aimed at speeding up job creation and stimulating economic renewal.