首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Time To Panic? Nobody needed to read George Bush’s lips when he visited Russia recently as the guest of Goldman Sachs to ma
Time To Panic? Nobody needed to read George Bush’s lips when he visited Russia recently as the guest of Goldman Sachs to ma
admin
2013-03-11
124
问题
Time To Panic?
Nobody needed to read George Bush’s lips when he visited Russia recently as the guest of Goldman Sachs to mark the opening of the U.S. investment bank’s Moscow outpost. Bush declared his faith in "the power of freedom" and of free markets. "I am optimistic," he proclaimed. "I believe Russia is going to thrive. "Bush may yet be proved right. But coming as the country’s stock market hit a new record low and interest rates leapt skyward, the former President’s speech was ill-timed. For anyone who has invested in Russia, this is the summer of sleepless nights as the dreaded word deval’vatsiya--Russian for devaluation— makes an unwelcome comeback. "It’s taboo to say it," says one prominent Russian banker, "but this threat hangs over us like a nightmare." Last week, Finance Minister Mikhail Zadornov declared devaluation unavoidable unless tax collection improves "by a third" in the coming months. With billions of dollars in unpaid taxes, the government has launched yet another desperate crackdown on tax evaders, even freezing the assets of the country’ s top debtor, gas giant Gazprom which owes some $ 2.5 billion. The showdown was dramatic, with the tax police storming Gazprom’s Moscow skyscraper and salivating over its vast collection of yachts, planes and holiday villas. But within hours, the confrontation was over. On Friday, Gazprom’s CEO Rem Vyakhirev won a private audience with President Boris Yeltsin, where he defused attempts to rip up the agreement granting him control of 35 % of the state’s 40% stake in Gazprom and promised, in due time, to pay off the debt.
But as every sentient observer knows, the clock is ticking fast. "When treasury bill rates rise to 80 %, it means we’ re in a pre-collapse state," says Vladimir Potanin, so-called oligarch and founder of Unexim Bank, one of Russia’s largest. "It’s logical what could come next: devaluation, the crash of the banking system, huge’ lines of people trying to get their money out, unpaid wages and heightened social tension." Everybody agrees that a devaluation would devastate Russia as it struggles to retain its fragile financial credibility earned over six years of haphazard reform. Particularly hard hit would be Russia’ s banking system, which has debts of at least $ ,200 billion and dangerously few assets. What assets the banks do have could be wiped out thanks to their exposure to so-called "dollar forward contracts" signed with Western banks. "If there’ s a devaluation," says Potanin, "it’ s clear that there is this massive amount of future obligations that will have to be paid off, and of course the method will be by defaulting."
Little wonder then that the crisis has reduced Russia’s financial elite, once a pride of chest-beating fat cats, to a threatened species screeching about the coming apocalypse. Their counterparts in the political arena are no less panicked. On June 23, Yeltsin warned his opponents in parliament that if an austerity package was not passed before they recessed on July 16, he would resort to "other means’--a hint that he would rule by decree. Yet last week, the Russian President informed his subjects and stunned international observers: "We have no crisis." Yeltsin may be the only person in Russia who believes that, as devaluation rumors hit fever pitch. "This week," predicts a top financial journalist, who boasts close ties to the Central Bank. Even as they brace for the coming storm, many are looking to the International Monetary Fund to save the day. After twice delaying it, on June 25 the IMF, citing its faith in the cabinet of Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko, released a $ 670 million tranche of a previous $ 9.2 billion credit. But Russia’s chances for a world-class bailout--the $ 10-15 billion that Anatoli Chubais, Yeltsin’s envoy to the IMF talks, deems the bare minimum Russia needs to escape catastrophe--look slim.
In the meantime, Kiriyenko is fighting to hang on to his new job, and his blueprint for rescuing Russia. By midweek, the beleaguered Prime Minister had submitted his anti-crisis plan to the Duma including measures to cut corporate taxes and introduce a single value-added tax of’ 20%. The package, Western financial experts warned, is long on generalities, short on implementation. The Duma, however, has other ideas. Sergei Baburin, the Communist vice speaker, denounced the proposed laws as "lethal medicine cooked up by vengeful Western economists." Some optimists are looking to the long term. "We’ ve been able to get more cuts out of this new government," muses one IMF official in private, "than we did from the Chernomyrdin government in the last three years." But in the short term, the crisis threatens to consume everything in its path. Among those clamoring loudest for a bailout are the Western bankers who find themselves embarrassingly exposed. Of Russia’ s $ 72.2 billion in outstanding loans, German banks alone hold $ 30.5 billion.
At home, the so-called oligarchs are also running scared. With the conflagration encroaching, they have put aside personal rivalry to form a "cooperation council" to advise Kiriyenko. But Yeltsin has yet to give his blessing to this "shadow cabinet."
Although there have been no runs on Russian banks so far, there are reasons to fear a panic: the stock market has plunged by 63% since January; Russia’s debt pyramid of compounding treasury bills has grown dangerously; interest rates hover above 80%; while more than a third of the budget goes to service the government’s burgeoning debt. In July, Russia will have to pay out $ 6.5 billion to redeem maturing loans, while cash reserves have sunk to $ 11.5 billion. The government is finding it difficult to raise new funds and has had to cancel its latest treasury bill auctions. "No one believes in this paper," says the head of one of Russia’s largest banks.
Those fretting the loudest may be the foreigners--the fund managers and deal makers who rail against the "fools in Washington" who tend to Asia’ s woes while ignoring Russia’ s. They warn darkly of the danger of "losing Russia." Without help from abroad, they claim, the pro-reform Kiriyenko cabinet will fall and in the post-crash wake a "nationalist-patriot’ will rise. A dark scenario, but one taken seriously of late. As a senior IMF official, who’d love to see Western governments give large loans to Russia, puts it: "No doubt about it, a bailout is expensive, but it’ s our cheapest insurance policy." Maybe, but just the premiums on such a policy could prove extortionate.
Devaluation will cause the crash of the banking system.
选项
A、Y
B、N
C、NG
答案
A
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/aLr7777K
0
大学英语四级
相关试题推荐
Haveyoueverhadthe【S1】______towandertheworldandseewhatwasoutthere?Whilesomepeopleprefertostayinthecomforto
A、Becausehisunclewhoteachescomputersatauniversityinfluencedhimalot.B、Becausehehasthecredentialsandreferences
Asinthefieldofspacetravel,soinunderseaexplorationnewtechnologiescontinuetoappear.Theyshareanumberofsimilari
Timeandhowweexperienceithavepuzzledphysicistswhohavecreatedfascinatingtheories.Buttheirtimeismeasuredbyapen
A、Pauliskeenonsweetfood.B、Paul’steetharenothealthy.C、Pauleatstoomuchsweetfood.D、Pauliscrazyaboutsweets.Asw
A、TeachDon’sclasswhileheisabsent.B、GiveProfessorWebsterthekeytoDon’soffice.C、Makeanappointmentwiththedoctor.
Thisisasimplerule,andfor40yearsthe______majorityofcharitableorganizationshavestrictlyobservedtheprohibition.
A、Aplumber.B、Asalesman.C、Anelectrician.D、Atelephonerepairman.C本对话的解题关键在于是否抓住了关键词air-conditioner和fixit,空调坏了,水不断滴到地板上,需要
Whatdoesthepassagemainlydiscuss?Ironreplacedstoneandtimberinthebuildingofbridgesbecauseironwasconsidered___
Money,especiallysugarmoney,【B1】______theforceforannexation(合并,吞并)ofHawaii.Americansugar【B2】______hadaplacetos
随机试题
企业经营战略层次体系包括()
给核心过程提供基础保证的活动过程称为()
煨法的目的是煅法的目的是
根据《中华人民共和国测绘法》,测量土地、建筑物、构筑物和地面其他附者物的权属界址线应当按照()确定的权属界线的界址点、界址线或者提供的有关登记资料和附图进行。
实行资本资金制度的投资项目,资本金的筹措情况应该在()中做出详细说明。
某市一基础设施项目进行招标,现拟组建评标委员会,按《评标委员会和评标方法暂行规定》,下列人员中不得担任评标委员会成员的有()。
如某建筑工程承包合同中订有仲裁条款,则双方结算价款产生纠纷时,可()。
某公司为了提升公司的业绩,通过对外招聘的方式,招聘了一名新的业务经理小张,小张在笔试方面表现非常优异。公司对他寄予了厚望。此外,小张培养了一名得力助手,非常优待他,但是对其他员工要求非常的严格,而且并不喜欢采纳员工的意见,因而和下级相处的并不好。一年过去了
从所给的四个选项中,选择最合适的一个填入问号处,使之呈现一定的规律性:
A、HefeltboringabouttheTVprogram.B、Helosthismealticketsinthecafeteria.C、HemissedagoodTVprogram.D、HisTVwas
最新回复
(
0
)