The government has no plan to provide emergency loans or any other form of financial aid to Russia to help ease financial uncertainty there, Chief Cabinet Secretary Kanezo Muraoka said Wednesday.
Speaking at a regular news conference, Muraoka added that Japan hopes Russia will carry out ongoing economic reform in a steady manner. Tokyo has learned that other major industrialized nations also have no plans to provide such assistance to Russia, Muraoka said.
Russian stock and currency markets have been suffering steep falls lately, prompting Moscow to take the unusual move last week of tripling interest rates to prevent the ruble from dropping further.
The Group of Seven nations are in close contact to discuss ways to help Russia get through the financial crisis. The G-7 deputy finance ministers plan to meet in Paris next Tuesday to forge a coordinated policy that will probably feature a mechanism for extending development assistance to Russia from international organizations.