Russia moves to help companies refinance foreign loans

A man walks in front of the head office of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation in Moscow. Russia's central bank is offering to help Russian companies refinance foreign loans starting to lend money in hard currencies in exchange for their foreign loans as collateral with the regulator - EPA Photo.

MOSCOW: Russia's central bank said on Wednesday it would help major Russian companies refinance foreign loans by starting to lend money in hard currencies to those who are willing to put their foreign loans as collateral with the regulator.

While Russia has minimal sovereign foreign debts, Russian state and private companies and banks have accumulated a total of US$600bil in foreign debts of which around US$100bil are due next year.