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Text size [+][-]  Thursday March 18 2010GLOBAL EDITION

Considered view
08 Oct 2008 12:14

No bottom to the well

Context News

Russian authorities on Wednesday closed down Moscow's two exchanges, the Micex and dollar-denominated RTS, after they tumbled 14% and 11%, respectively, in the opening few minutes. The exchanges will remain closed until Friday.

Dmitri Medvedev, the Russian president, on Tuesday said that the government would lend 950billion rubles, or about $36bn, to the country's major banks in the form of 5-year, subsidised loans. Sberbank, the country's largest bank, would receive 500bn rubles and VTB, another state-owned bank, 250bn.

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Foreign capital is fleeing faster than the government can replenish it. The latest – a 15% stock market drop despite $36bn in new mid-term loans from the state to the country’s major banks. Russia has put 10% of its GDP into the banks, to no avail. But there’s no easy cure.

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More stories by:  Pierre Briançon






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