Talk:Russian financial crisis

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DO NOT MERGE. They are two different subjects !!

Contents 1 don't think it should be merged 2 8% 3 Inaccurate 4 Image copyright problem with Image:Boris primakov.jpg

[edit] don't think it should be merged

these are two different subjects. 84.94.100.87 07:36, 9 November 2006 (UTC)

Explain a bit more, they appear to be two incomplete subjects that talk about the exact same event. One of the articles even says that the other name is synonymous with the events (you even edited that part, so if I don't hear back I'll assume that they are the same thing and merge in a few days). Radagast83 08:09, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

I agree with the anonymous user that the articles should not be merged. GKOs were a form of domestic souvereign debt. Granted, "GKO crisis" and "Russian financial crisis 1998" migh be synonyms for some, but there is more to GKOs than just the crisis and hence they deserve a separate article. --Maxx.T 21:42, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

Do Not merge it! two different subject! Superzohar 09:52, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] 8%

I see on CIA factbook that their national debt is only 8% of their GDP while the U.S. is approaching 70%. Why worry about stiffing everybody if your economy can being doing great a few years later? And they'll never have to pay it back? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 67.110.221.182 (talk) 06:49, 27 April 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Inaccurate

The Russian government did not devalue the ruble. Rather, the government basically announced (Joint Statement of August 17, 1998) it would restructure its debt (without specifying how/when) and froze transactions by financial institutions (i.e. banks) to stop the exporting of hard currency. At the time the Russian government had a "floating peg" policy viz. the ruble and the dollar, meaning that the government would step in and defend the ruble if it threatened to devalue outside of the band. After the government shut down the financial markets, the ruble crashed--but this was not a "devaluation" in the sense of a deliberate policy toward the ruble, but rather the natural result of the crisis in confidence caused by the government's actions toward banks and its own debt. At the time the primary exchange for ruble trading was MICEX (Moscow Interbank Currency EXchange). Following the Joint Statement the MICEX essentially stopped functioning. As the ruble quickly threatened to fall out of the band, the government shut down the exchange rather than defend the currency. The government tried to reopen the exchange a couple of times; each time it had to be shut down. In private transactions the ruble reached 21 to the dollar from a pre-crisis level of around 7-8 to the dollar (i.e. 300% drop in value).

However, the fact that the government did not intentionally debase the currency is of great historical significance. Russia essentially became the first sovereign nation (at least in modern times) to default on its sovereign debt, denominated in domestic currency, as opposed to simply printing more money.

I am going to draft a revision that will fix this inaccuracy and also expand a little on the history. Hopefully I can find an English translation of the Joint Statement knocking around on the web somewhere...Gibbon2007 (talk) 05:26, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

• Gibon, I support your point of historical significance of the precedent and would be keen to see your text. Meanwhile, here goes the official text of the STATEMENT of the Government of the Russian Federation and the Central Bank of the Russian Federation August 17, 1998 http://www2.minfin.ru/off_inf/69.htm Hope this helps.

--Maxx.T (talk) 10:41, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

Okay, I have inserted a couple of paragraphs into the Crisis & Effects section and also the prior section. I have to work on this a little at a time. I'll add some cites in next. Thanks for the link to the JS. I'm a bit of a novice at writing for Wikipedia--I mostly just read.Gibbon2007 (talk) 04:07, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the contribution, and welcome.--Gregalton (talk) 11:41, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Image copyright problem with Image:Boris primakov.jpg

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