#2 - JRL 7187
Russia "leads G8 in aid to poor nations" - finance minister
ITAR-TASS

Deauville, 18 May: Russia leads the G8 countries in rendering aid to poor nations, said on Sunday [18 May] Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Aleksey Kudrin. The G8 finance ministers pointed to this fact with satisfaction at the meeting which was held in this French city, he said in an interview with Russian reporters.

Russia considerably lags behind its G8 partners in the volume of GDP, the vice-premier noted. But it wrote off 3.5bn dollars in debts to poor countries last year alone. With respect to GDP, this is more than among some G8 countries, Kudrin emphasized. "If we take into account initial reductions [rebates] granted by Russia to those countries, its aid to poor countries will amount to 1 per cent of GDP.

Not a single G8 country can boast such a figure, Kudrin underlined.