Overview
- Responding to calls from VTB’s first deputy chairman Dmitry Pyanov to discuss a trading band, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said he would not back a corridor that requires Bank of Russia market interventions.
- Siluanov recalled 1990s internal debates over linking the ruble to the US dollar, saying such an approach would subordinate Russia to another country’s monetary policy and cost financial sovereignty.
- In describing the 1998 crisis, he noted the exchange rate collapsed from about 6 to 20 rubles per dollar, inflation jumped, and wages in dollar terms plunged, adding his own monthly pay then was under $10.
- He said Russia’s total government debt exceeded roughly 92% of GDP by 1999, which left the country highly exposed to shocks.
- He credited subsequent 2000s reforms — including the Budget and Tax Codes, accelerated external debt repayment, creation of the Stabilization Fund, and banking reform with deposit insurance — with strengthening resilience.