Japan says hard to confirm impact from Russia’s debt default

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Tuesday that it was “a little difficult” at present to confirm the definite impact on Japan from Russia’s debt default.

Suzuki, who commented on the issue after being asked about it by reporters at a news conference following a regular cabinet meeting, added that any moves in Russian government bonds were likely to have a limited impact on Japanese investors.

“The ratio of investments in Russia as part of Japan’s overall foreign bond investments is limited,” Suzuki said.

“Moves in Russian government bonds are likely to result in limited direct losses for Japanese investors, including financial institutions,” he said.

The White House and Moody’s credit agency on Monday said Russia had defaulted on its international bonds for the first time in more than a century.

The Kremlin, which has the money to make payments thanks to oil and gas revenues, has rejected the claims that it has defaulted on its external debt.

(Reporting by Takaya Yamaguchi and Daniel Leussink; Editing by Kim Coghill)