Doug wrote:
ChrisD(RJ) wrote:
>Actually, the important thing here IMO is Russia continuing its Putin-era
>policy of refusing WB/IMF loans.
Interesting - why? Don't need the money? Don't want the conditionality?
Doug --------------- I write:
Both. Russia is even planning to make some debt payments ahead of schedule. And Russia's experience with the WB/IMF has not been a pretty one.
For me, the moment when I decided "Putin is really not a Yeltsin 2" was when Russia told the IMF to fuck off last year. "We do not want any more loans." Me, slack-jawed in astonishment: "Wh--aat? You mean you don't what to just take out loans and steal them?" During the Yeltsin era, IMF loans would wind up in oligarchs' pockets practically before they entered the country.
Chris Doss The Russia Journal