The Russian Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank are preparing a mechanism that will set a monthly limit on the purchase of foreign currency in the domestic market as part of transactions with the assets of companies that have left the Russian Federation, Vedomosti reports. This is due to the low liquidity of the currency on the market, large purchases contribute to the volatility of the ruble.
According to Ivan Chebeskov, director of the Finance Ministry’s financial policy department, the mechanism itself will not be tied to a specific amount.
The department has applied similar measures in the past to avoid destabilizing the market, a ministry representative said. He added that when making decisions on transactions with shares and participations, the Ministry of Finance takes into account market conditions in the foreign exchange market.
The Russian ruble began to lose ground at the beginning of the month. In two weeks, the dollar strengthened 5.4%, rising in price to 81.79 rubles. The euro, for its part, rose in price by 7.11%, to 90.2 rubles. The Chinese yuan rose 5.45% to 11.28 rubles.
According to experts, such dynamics may be associated with the purchase of assets of companies that left the Russian market. For example, Shell’s withdrawal from the Sakhalin-2 project could have had an impact. The oil and gas company was allowed to sell 27.5% to Novatek in early April for 95 billion rubles. However, Alexei Zabotkin, vice president of the Central Bank, pointed out that the impact of the agreement was exaggerated.
In 2022, the Price Cap Coalition, which included EU countries, G7 states and Australia, set a ceiling on the cost of Russian oil exported by sea at $60 per barrel. An embargo on its supplies to the European Union was also introduced. The restriction went into effect on December 5.
Since February 5, there has also been an embargo on imports of oil products from Russia into the EU, including diesel and fuel oil.
President Vladimir Putin responded by prohibiting the supply of oil and petroleum products to those partners whose contracts contain information on the cost-fixing mechanism.
In this regard, at the beginning of the year, Russia’s oil and gas revenues decreased by 45%. And the budget deficit for the first two months amounted to 2.4 trillion rubles.
Author:
Natalia Gormaleva
Source: RB
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