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
73
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.
Yeltsin’s envoy to the IMF talks show Russia will get more help from the INF.
选项
A、Y
B、N
C、NG
答案
B
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/lLr7777K
0
大学英语四级
相关试题推荐
ClickWomenarebeginningtoexperiencethatclick!ofrecognition—thatmomentoftruththatbringsagleamtooureyesand
ScientistsintheUnitedStateshavereportedsomegoodnewsabouttheozoneintheatmosphere.Recentfindingssuggestthatthe
A、Becauseyou’llhavenoknowledgeofthebackground.B、Becauseyou’llknowsomethingaboutwhat’sgoingtohearnext.C、Because
A、Plansforhelpingvictimsofidentitytheft.B、Settinglawstoprotectthepublicfromidentitytheft.C、Punishingseverelyth
Advancedtechnologyhasalreadypushedhumanbeingtoedges,suchastheproductionofweaponsofmassdestruction,thedestruct
WhenIwasatschool,my【B1】______wastobeapilotintheAirForce.Butmy【B2】______wasn’tgoodenough,soIhadtogiveupth
A、Shedidn’tlikethepaintingsthere.B、Shebelievedthepaintingcourseistooabstract.C、Shehadagoodtasteforthearts.
A、Askfortheirnames.B、Namebabiesafterthem.C、Putdowntheirnames.D、Choosenamesforthem.D选项均以原形动词开头表明,本题可能考查行为活动或观点建议。
Money,especiallysugarmoney,【B1】______theforceforannexation(合并,吞并)ofHawaii.Americansugar【B2】______hadaplacetos
A、Itisweird.B、Itisexhausting.C、Itisconvenient.D、Itiscomfortable.C如果交通顺利,女士回家只要花半小时在路途上,而男士花一个小时都不一定行。所以男士感慨万千,非常羡慕。原
随机试题
最早提出“把关”概念的是( )。
预算管理实质上是一种()
依据《收养法》的规定,被收养人的条件不包括()
考虑可能的原因为进一步处理是
患者,男,45岁。多年存在的颈部肿块突然迅速增大,质变硬,吞咽时上下移动受限,伴胸闷,舌苔薄白,脉弦。其证型是
“房叔”王某拥有数套某小学的学区房,同事李某为了孩子入学便利,请求王某转让一套。由于两人关系欠佳,王某予以拒绝。李某以公开王某的受贿隐情为要挟,最终使王某答应卖房,但合同价格明显高于一般房屋。合同签订不久,由于教育部门调整小学招生政策,李某小孩不可能在该小
夫妻同为被保险人和受益人的联合定期寿险以()为保险人履行赔偿给付的条件。
某企业集团既经营生产资料也经营生活资料,经营的商品主要有轴承、轮胎、橡胶、汽车、大米、食盐、蔬菜、调味品等。该企业集团依据商业的供求形态来选择预测方法,并对企经营的商品进行预测。另附该企业某年1—11月汽车销售统计表(如下):根据以上资料,回答下列问题
中国公民有未了结的民事案件,但是可以申请出境。()
A、Graspingfood.B、Keepingbalance.C、Climbingandleaping.D、Usingthemasweapons.B[听力原文]Whatdomosttypesofmonkeysuset
最新回复
(
0
)