ISTANBUL, October 4 (RIA Novosti) - Russia could borrow from $2 billion to $4 billion from the World Bank next year to ease the effects of the economic crisis, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on Sunday.
Kudrin said after the negotiations with World Bank President Robert Zoellick in Istanbul that Russia had yet to make a final decision on the loan, depending on the loan terms and the country's need for borrowings.
"We discussed the possibility of obtaining a loan, from $2 billion to $4 billion. Of course, we are interested in a simplified and fast-track loan," Kudrin said, adding that normally it took several months to complete the negotiating process.
The global financial crisis forced Russia, which receives a large part of its revenues from oil exports, to gradually devalue the ruble amid capital flight and a fall in global oil prices, which declined from their peak of $147 per barrel in July 2008 to around $40 per barrel in early 2009. They have since climbed back to around $70 and the ruble has stabilized at around 30 to the dollar.
Russia's budget deficit is expected to hit 6.8% of GDP in 2010.
