Russia is negotiating the early repayment of its Paris Club debt, President Vladimir Putin said yesterday

Russia is negotiating the early repayment of its Paris Club debt, President Vladimir Putin said yesterday, quoted by the Interfax news agency. “We are in negotiations over the possibility of such a decision with the Paris Club,” Putin said during a meeting with the World Bank president James Wolfensohn, who was on a visit to Moscow. “Of course we will take such a step if it is benefits our economy,” Putin added. Russia’s Soviet-era debt to the 19 members of the Paris Club stood on October 1, 2004 at $44.4 billion, including $20 billion to its biggest lender Germany. A German press report in December said that Russia wanted to repay up to 30 billion euros ($39 billion) of its Paris Club debt over the next three years. The German business newspaper Handelsblatt, citing German government sources, said that an agreement on the repayment would be reached soon. The German government sources said Russia wanted to repay 10 billion euros per year from 2005-2007. Russia’s finances are benefiting from high inflows of foreign currency as a result of the runaway price of oil and this week it made its last payment to the International Monetary Fund three years ahead of schedule.