Russian finance minister predicts 'inevitable' 2nd wave of crisis

"A second wave of the crisis is clearly inevitable. But we will be able to resolve this by means of recapitalization of banks," Kudrin, who is also a deputy prime minister, told the Vesti 24 TV channel. The minister said the wave would be triggered by a failure to return loans to banks. The problem of outstanding and non-returned debts emerged last fall, when the global financial crisis reached Russia. Kudrin earlier forecasted that the bad debts in the Russian banking system could grow to 10% of the loan portfolio, while some experts have predicted the figure could reach 20% by the end of the year. Speaking Friday on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, he said the ruble rate would remain stable this year at around 30 to the dollar. "On the whole, I think we will have a stable ruble," Kudrin said. He also said that Russia's national debt would not exceed 15% of GDP over the next few years, noting that it had accounted for some 6% of GDP when the financial crisis began last October; Kazinform cites RIA Novosti. See www.en.rian.ru for full version