Foreign Investors, Including US, Still Show Interest in Russia

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Foreign investors, including from the United States, continue to show interest in Russia, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told journalists before a meeting with foreign investors on the sidelines of the spring session of the IMF and the World Bank.

"We will meet with them now, they continue to show interest in us," Siluanov said.

The minister also reported that the current level of Russian companies' foreign debt burden does not carry risks to the Russian budget, Anton Siluanov said.

"Foreign corporate borrowings have significantly decreased, so there are no risks," Siluanov said when asked whether the current external corporate borrowings carry risks to the budget.

Siluanov also said that the Russian government would soon establish a structure to support sanctioned companies.

"A structure will be created under one of the departments that will coordinate the activities of all departments in the government and interact with enterprises that came under sanctions," Siluanov told reporters.

He said the companies under Western sanctions have asked the Russian government for financial support worth some 100 billion rubles ($1.63 billion), adding that the government is not considering direct assistance from the budget to the sanctioned companies, but will support demand for their products instead.