The country's foreign creditors are concerned: Russia's foreign debt is too low, it would make sense to borrow more in order for the economy to grow. The CBR does not reject the idea of taking loans but prefers to rely on its own resources.

Russia's total foreign debt stands at USD 525 billion, one of the lowest rates in the world. For comparison, the UK foreign debt is USD 7.5 trillion, that of France is around USD 5 trillion, German debt is USD 4.8 trillion. The total for the euro zone is USD 14 trillion, while the US debt is over USD 21 trillion.

Russia's low foreign debt drew attention of the IMF Head Christine Lagarde as she spoke at the St.Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). She noted that Russia's national debt looks “substantially low” and recommended higher borrowing, certainly, within reasonable limits. The IMF's interest is clear as the Fund is a credit organisation. The position of the CBR is different: the main source of the Russian economic growth, according to the management, should be “the investments and not the growing debt”. This vision has it strong foundation.

The amount of the external debt is comparable to the total Russian reserves (USD 450 billion). This means that at any point, the Russian sovereign financial system may simply execute a debt buy-out from its foreign creditors.

In the US case this would be impossible: external debt is immense, although the US economy is set up in a different way. However, debt with no guarantees works like a time bomb. While the small Russian debt and the option of its rapid refund weakens the dependence of the state on the external sources of cash.

Another reason for low demand on borrowed capital in Russia is its deficit-free budget. A surplus is expected in 2018, first in seven years. According to the Ministry of Finance estimates, public revenue will exceed expenditure by more than half a trillion Roubles.