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December 19, 2008
Cry Me A River
The best laid plans of Mice and Putins gang aft a-gley
MOSCOW (AP) - Russia would come under crippling financial pressure and may need to raise money externally if oil languishes at an average of $30 a barrel over the next two years, the World Bank predicted Friday.The bleak scenario would mark a rapid unraveling of Russia's oil-fueled economic gains over the past eight years, during which time the government has paid down most of its foreign debt and built up a vast stockpile of international reserves.
"If oil prices in 2009 and 2010 average $30 a barrel, that would be a nightmare scenario for a global economy," Zeljko Bogetic, the World Bank's chief economist in Russia told investors on Friday. "The pressures on the current account and public finances in Russia would quickly rise to a point where the financing constraint would become so sharp that it's possible even to envisage Russia's return from a creditor to international organisations to (that of) a borrower."
Chavez better not count on too much help.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at December 19, 2008 03:00 PM
Comments
Did'ya notice that the pics of the "visit" to Cuba by the Russian Navy only show the destroyer, and not the two "supply vessels" accompanying it?
Tugs.
Posted by: mojo at December 19, 2008 04:25 PM
Tugs, huh? Interesting.....
Posted by: JeffS at December 19, 2008 04:40 PM
Cry me a river, Pooty-Poot.
Posted by: Ken S, Fifth String on the Banjo of Life at December 19, 2008 11:04 PM
Mr. Putin! Come mow my lawn!
Posted by: Mockingbird at December 21, 2008 02:29 PM