The International Monetary Fund has joined a number of other financial institutions that have warned of the risk of Russia defaulting on its sovereign debt amid international sanctions, Interfax-Ukraine reported.
Russia's default is no longer considered an "unlikely event," IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told reporters Thursday.
"It's not that Russia doesn't have money. It's just that Russia can't use that money," she said, adding that international sanctions would make it harder to convert special drawing rights from the IMF into currency.
Earlier, major international rating agencies downgraded Russia's sovereign ratings to pre-default levels. Credit-default swap rates indicate that the market sees a 71 percent chance of default within a year and an 81 percent chance of default within five years.
Russia has $117 million in dollar-denominated bond coupons due March 16.
"Russia is heading toward a 'deep recession' amid the collapse of the ruble and rising inflation, which is sharply reducing the purchasing power of the Russian population," Georgieva said.
Meanwhile, the IMF management is not discussing the suspension of Russia's membership in the Fund, said Managing Director. The country can be excluded only on the basis of violation of economic obligations in accordance with the IMF charter, and so far Russia fulfills all obligations, Georgieva added.
"Currently, the IMF does not implement lending programs in Russia, and the fund's Moscow office is not functioning. Also, the fund has no representative in Moscow," Georgieva said.
The IMF is likely to worsen global economic growth forecasts for the current year as part of the publication of an updated World Economic Outlook (WEO) before the fund's spring management meeting in April, Georgieva said. According to the January forecast, the IMF expects global GDP growth of 4.4% this year.
