Russia's Central Bank pledges to guarantee financial stability

Russia's Central Bank said Tuesday that a financial crisis similar to last December's is unlikely to recur, and the bank vowed to protect financial stability in Russia.

"Under the current circumstances, a repetition of the situation that happened in December of 2014 is unrealistic," the bank said in its financial stability review.

The bank said it would protect financial stability in the Russian market even in the worst-case scenarios of an oil price drop and capital outflow, while an anti-crisis plan has been worked out should the condition of the financial markets deteriorate.

Moreover, the bank said that the downgrading of Russia's sovereign rating below investment level, made by international rating agencies such as Standard & Poor's and Moody's, has not affected domestic financial stability.

A senior bank official said he expected Russia's investment rating to recover within 12 months, as factors such as inflation and economic growth point to improved credit worthiness in the country.

Meanwhile, the bank said that in April, the foreign debt of Russian banks and companies shrank to 509 billion U.S. dollars, or by 17 percent compared to the same period of 2014.

According to the review, which was published online, Russian banks and companies have enough money to pay off the 65-billion-dollar foreign debt by the end of 2015.

The hardest time for the Russian banks is expected in the second quarter of 2016 due to accumulation of "bad loans," the bank predicted, adding that the situation should start improving afterwards. Endi