[PEN-L:1338] Russia: World's exposure to Russia exceeds $200 bln

[Gregory Schwartz <grishas@xxxxxxxx>]

Russia's debt to the world (play on words)!

Greg.

***
LONDON, Aug 28 (Reuters) - The outside world's debt and equity exposure
to
crisis-ridden Russia exceeds $200 billion, the Financial Times said on
Friday,
quoting a research body owned by leading banks.

It said the figures produced by the Washington-based Institute of
International Finance included $194 billion in all external debt and an
estimated $11 billion for accumulated foreign investment in Russian
equities
at the end of 1997.

But the institute pointed out that exposure did not necessarily mean
loss.

It quoted Dutch bank ING Barings <ING.AS> as saying $118 billion in
wealth had
been "destroyed" in Russia since the start of the year, which included
money
lost by Russians.

The bank said the figure was broken down as follows: a $57 billion fall
in
stock market value, a $31 billion fall in the value of outside debt and
a $30
billion loss in value on GKOs, rouble-denominated treasury bills.
The newspaper quoted economists and bankers as saying Russia's exposure
to
foreign creditors in various types of hard currency-denominated bonds
was
$54.5 billion.

--
Gregory Schwartz
Dept. of Political Science
York University
4700 Keele St.
Toronto, Ontario
M3J 1P3
Canada

Tel: (416) 736-5265
Fax: (416) 736-5686
Web: http://www.yorku.ca/dept/polisci