Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on Friday that he expected the global economic crisis to continue, and that further surprises should be expected.

"The global crisis continues, the global crisis is not yet over. It will present us with new surprises," he said at an international conference in Moscow called Russia and the World: Challenges of the New Decade.

"I am not scaremongering. They [surprises] crop up locally - whether in Dubai or Greece, or in the situation at specific large banks," he said.

Dubai World, a conglomerate with interests in financial services and property, asked in late November for repayment of its $60 billion debt burden to be suspended for six months. The news triggered sharp stock market falls in several countries.

Greece's economy has suffered more than most EU states since the onset of the financial crisis, with its budget deficit soaring. The country's foreign debt has reached 300 billion euros ($441 billion), or about 130% of national GDP.

MOSCOW, January 22 (RIA Novosti)