WASHINGTON, May 27 ― The White House said yesterday it expects minimal impact on the US and global economy from a potential Russia debt default as Washington decided to not extend a waiver that enabled Russia to pay US bondholders.
“We expect the impact on the US and the global economy to be minimal, given Russia has already been isolated financially,” White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said in a press briefing yesterday.
“That being said, Treasury Department continues to monitor and have conversations with global financial community,” she said.
The United States pushed Russia closer to the brink of a historic debt default on Wednesday by not extending its licence to pay bondholders, as Washington ramps up pressure following Russia's actions in Ukraine.
The US Treasury Department said on its website late on Tuesday it would let lapse a licence which expired at 12.01am ET (0401 GMT) on Wednesday and allowed Russia to make interest and maturity payments on its sovereign debt to US persons.
That waiver has allowed Russia to keep up government debt payments, but its expiry now appears to make a default inevitable on at least some its US$40 billion (RM175.9 billion) of international bonds ― Russia's first major external one for more than a century.
Western sanctions imposed after the Kremlin's February 24 invasion of Ukraine, and countermeasures from Moscow, have complicated the movement of money across borders, yet Russia has made a conscious effort to keep paying bondholders. ― Reuters
