Nov 19. Russia provided IMF with USD640 mn last week as part of the standard procedure for issuing loans to other countries and the total amount of funds provided by Russia to IMF could reach USD1 bn by the end of November, Deputy Head of Department of International Financial Relations, State Debt and State Financial Assets of Russia’s Finance Ministry Andrey Bokarev said. “These are funds which we provide to the fund on a reimbursable basis at an interest rate as part of IMF’s so-called financial operations plan” – he said. Bokarev explained that under this plan loans are issued to the largest countries whose economies are viewed as stable rather than the poorest countries. They float money to IMF on a reimbursable basis to issue credits to countries which need them. Russia has been obliged to participate in such operations since 2005 when it ceased to be an IMF borrower, Bokarev noted.