WASHINGTON, April 6 (RIA Novosti) - A senior U.S. official said Wednesday that Russia now holds the world's fifth-largest gold and foreign currency reserves and has an annual trade surplus of over $120 billion.
Deputy Commerce Secretary David Sampson told a Washington conference on Russia's role in the modern world that Russia had posted steady 6% annual GDP growth for the last eight years, and held gold and foreign currency reserves totaling $185 million, placing it fifth in global terms after Japan, China, Taiwan, and South Korea, which currently has about $210 billion.
His figures were lower than those announced Wednesday by Central Bank Chairman Sergei Ignatyev, who said Russia's gold and foreign currency reserves hit a record of $205.9 billion on April 1, and had increased 1.5-fold in 2005.
Sampson also said Russia now ranked 12th by GDP volume, which was about $855 bln in 2005, and that the country had made pre-term sovereign debt payments to the International Monetary Fund and the Paris Club of Creditor Nations. Leading global ratings agencies have given Russia an "investment grade" sovereign credit rating, he said.
Russia's foreign debt shrank by 32.6 billion in 2005 to $81.5 billion early this year, or 10.6% of GDP. The country transferred another $1.2 billion to the Paris Club of Creditor Nations on February 17-21 in regular debt payment and servicing.
Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov Thursday announced he had authorized negotiations on pre-term payment of another $12-bln tranche of Russia's foreign sovereign debt. The negotiations could start in the next week, he said.
