For a long time Russia had restrictions on capital flow and currency convertibility, and we know very well how this happens, including the example of the 1997-1998 crisis.
That demonstrated that currency restrictions have very little effect in a crisis. The shadow currency exchange market experiences dramatic growth but capital outflow remains unchanged. Therefore, our current strategy involves a more responsible macroeconomic policy and lowering our dependence on oil, thereby reducing the associated currency risks. In this global crisis, we felt the need to regulate, among other things, world reserve currencies. This demonstrates, and one example of this is the large amount of liquidity on international markets, that we do not yet know what other consequences there could be. I think that the need has arisen to create new regulators, including for currency systems.
I always give the example of the European Union and the euro. The European Central Bank acted more carefully and was less dependent on national governments. In this sense, we saw a lot that was positive during this crisis. The fiscal policy requirements on countries that form part of a particular zone are very important, and I think that we should adopt this practice.
I hold that today we are faced with the risks of the global crisis becoming dangerous for many countries. And if governments start creating national barriers to protect themselves from these risks, then capital flows will become distorted and cross-border capital inflow will decrease. Therefore, I deem it necessary to create global regulatory institutions that would guarantee transparency and protect investors' funds on these markets. Then capital inflows will flow better throughout the economy's entire circulatory system, if one can call a financial system that. Then we will see additional capital inflow and confluence, and in addition I think we will see great liberalism in this area.
Russia is considered a developing market. A great deal in Russia, as in other countries, is linked to our dependence on developed markets: export-import and capital inflow for example. Therefore, if the developed markets of the US and Europe provide for sufficiently stable growth, we are more than likely to see stability.
At the same time, it should be understood that a crisis such as that we see today is a crisis of the global economy. It is unprecedented, and the financial stimulus measures that all countries took are also unprecedented. Right now, it is hard to say to what extent we will be able to continue capital injections of such scale, and how they will reflect on our balance sheets a year or two from now. And on our sovereign debt, which is even set to exceed critical levels. For some developed countries it will rise to 100%, which will change the situation on the metals market.
Our government is in competition with the private sector and private demand has not yet fully recovered. Therefore it is vital that every step to fight the crisis is taken very carefully. This includes high liquidity and financial injection size. I think that it's difficult to talk about stability at this point. We feel this based on the state of the US and European economies. Commodity supplies inventories are growing, but it is hard to say that we have stable growth.
Besides, Russia has its own specifics. We are an oil-dependent country; therefore, we are directly linked with conventional hydrocarbon energy resource consumption. In this event, we lost more growth potential than other countries because the price of these resources fell 66.7% in one year. At the same time, we do have certain reserves that act as a buffer. We currently predict growth for Russia, but this growth will be very small.