Russia’s $70 Billion ‘Secret’ Export Credit Spending Lets Money Do the Talking

(Bloomberg, Moscow, 25 July 2017) As state secrets go, Russia’s program of export finance and loans to other nations might be one of the worst kept. While discussions about aiding cash-strapped allies frequently spill into the open, the Finance Ministry’s debt chief Konstantin Vyshkovsky says information about individual loans isn’t public and a budget addendum on state financial and export credit is classified as “secret.” But, speaking in an interview at his office a short walk from the Kremlin, Vyshkovsky said Russia has committed about $70 billion in total to such loans [over 20+ years?], a figure that hasn’t been disclosed before… The vast majority of money made available by the government covers export finance, with the borrower getting Russian products and services and a domestic company receiving the funds. Nuclear projects account for 90 percent of the $70 billion total in state loans, followed by the defense industry and civil aviation, according to Vyshkovsky.