By the beginning of 2020, the total volume of debts of developing countries to Russia reached $ 23.8 billion, according to the data of the World Bank.

As follows from the materials of the organization, in total, as of December 2019, Moscow acted as a creditor for 34 countries with developing economies.

At that time, Belarus was the main debtor to Russia - the volume of the country's obligations amounted to almost $ 8.1 billion.

In addition, the main borrowers included Bangladesh ($ 2.4 billion), Venezuela ($ 1.8 billion), India ($ 1.7 billion), Vietnam ($ 1.6 billion), Yemen and Afghanistan ($ 1.1 billion each). ...

Also, Russian loans were actively used by Somalia ($ 932 million), Serbia ($ 769 million), Ukraine ($ 606 million), Syria ($ 525 million) and Egypt ($ 496 million).

“Within the framework of bilateral relations with many states, Russia provides loans.

This is a common world practice, it is an integral part of close trade, economic and investment cooperation, "- the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov commented on the World Bank data.

As the Kremlin spokesman emphasized, this practice will continue.

At the same time, he recalled that there are certain rules for servicing debt, which regulate the continuation of the issuance of loans in accordance with the level of debt burden of a particular country.

According to Mark Goikhman, chief analyst of TeleTrade Group, the provision of loans to other countries is most often associated with a number of political and economic reasons.

Thus, the state can issue loans to its trading or strategic partners to finance joint investment projects or stimulate purchases of export products.

“As an example, we can cite Bangladesh, which since 2017 has been actively receiving funds from us for the construction of nuclear power plants with the participation of Russia.

In turn, Venezuela, India, Vietnam, Serbia, Syria are importers of Russian products and countries that are part of the orbit of our country's political interests, ”Goikhman explained.

At the same time, as the expert noted, the economies of developing countries do not always allow them to repay loans on time, therefore, there are frequent cases of issuing new funds to cover previous debts.

At the same time, from a political point of view, the provision of loans is sometimes necessary to maintain the influence of the creditor country or to provide assistance to the recipient who is in allied relations, the analyst added.

“In many ways, this can explain the high volumes of Belarus' debt to Russia.

These are the funds accumulated over decades, which were issued both for the purchase of Russian goods and for the development of the country's economy.

The new loan in the amount of $ 1 billion, the agreement on which was signed at the end of 2020, will go mainly to cover previous loans, the maturity of which is approaching, ”said Mark Goykhman.

It is noteworthy that some countries received loans from the USSR and are currently paying them to Russia, Yevgeny Mironyuk, an analyst at Freedom Finance, told RT.

According to him, first of all, we are talking about the states of Africa and the Asian region.

“Even in the period before perestroika, the country strove to establish ties with states inclined to support the political course of the USSR.

This trend continues at the moment.

Economic support from Russia in the form of lending to a certain extent acts as an instrument of influence in the international arena and assistance to a partner, ”the expert noted.

Growth assessment

The World Bank experts also revised the forecast for the growth of the Russian economy in 2021 and 2022.

According to the organization, the country's GDP will increase by 2.9 and 3.2%, respectively.

Earlier, experts predicted a more moderate growth of the indicator - close to 2.6 and 3%.

"A shallower than expected GDP contraction in 2020 and a rapid easing of COVID-19-related restrictions have improved (economic. -

RT

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growth momentum

," the World Bank said in a report.

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The improvement in the forecast for the next two years is also associated with the measures taken by the authorities on mass vaccination against coronavirus infection.

This opinion was expressed in an interview with RT by the expert of BCS World of Investments Dmitry Babin.

According to him, a steady decline in the number of new cases of COVID-19 in the country allows to accelerate the process of lifting restrictions and launch economic processes in full force.

“Moreover, oil prices returned to pre-crisis highs much earlier than previously expected.

In general, a favorable situation has developed in the commodity markets, which will increase the revenue of Russian exporters and reduce the state budget deficit.

All of this will ultimately have a positive effect on consumer and business activity in the country and accelerate economic growth, ”Babin said.

According to experts, the foundation for an accelerated economic recovery was laid back in 2020 against the backdrop of the government's anti-crisis measures to support businesses and citizens.

We are talking about direct payments to families with children, as well as subsidies to the most affected industries.

In addition, the authorities provided soft loans to companies to pay salaries to employees, and also agreed on tax deferrals and other regulatory breaks for businesses.

“The faster than expected recovery of GDP is now evidence that the country has successfully coped with a number of economic problems of the past year.

According to our forecasts, by 2021 the economic growth will amount to about 2.7-3.3%, and in 2022 the figure will exceed the value of 2019, but will remain within 3%, ”concluded Yevgeny Mironyuk.