There will be no ban on the circulation of the dollar, euro and other currencies in Russia, said Elvira Nabiullina, chairman of the Central Bank, during a speech at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on Thursday, June 16.

According to her, the authorities are also not going to confiscate foreign currency deposits of Russians.

At the same time, the Central Bank is in favor of further lifting restrictions on the financial market, the head of the regulator added.

“Restrictions on the movement of capital affected a wide range of individuals, legal entities, residents and non-residents.

But as the financial system stabilizes, these restrictions are gradually being eased, and, in my opinion, most of them should be lifted,” Nabiullina said.

Recall that since the end of winter, the United States, the EU and a number of other countries have been introducing ever new economic sanctions against Russia.

This is how the West reacts to the conduct of a military special operation in Ukraine.

In total, almost 11 thousand restrictions have already been imposed on Moscow (8.2 thousand of them since February 22), as evidenced by the materials of the Castellum.AI global sanctions tracking database.

Restrictions, in particular, affected the banking industry, the energy sector, aviation and trade.

At the same time, almost half of the country's gold and foreign exchange reserves (worth $300 billion) were frozen, and many international companies announced their withdrawal from the Russian Federation.

Initially, the sanctions caused an emotional reaction in the Russian financial market and ordinary consumers.

The announced restrictions led to a sharp reduction in the price of company securities, the weakening of the national currency and the outflow of money from the banking sector.

At the same time, the Russians began to massively buy food and goods, which resulted in a rush price increase.

Then, to stabilize the situation, the government and the Central Bank took a set of measures.

In particular, the authorities obliged exporters to sell 80% of their foreign exchange earnings.

Along with this, the Central Bank briefly raised the rate to 20% per annum, limited the withdrawal of capital abroad and introduced a temporary procedure for the circulation of cash in the country.

Pavel Sigal, First Vice President of Opora Rossii, an all-Russian public organization of small and medium-sized businesses, told RT that the actions of the Central Bank in the face of uncertainty gave concrete results: the ruble managed to double in price compared to March highs, and the pace of price growth in the country slowed down.

Against this background, the authorities have the opportunity to gradually soften the previously introduced restrictions.

“Until recently, the binding of currency masses was a necessary measure for adjusting and adjusting the ratio of exchange rates and turnover.

Now the need for mechanical control is fading away and you can return to the natural course of markets and turnover,” said Segal.

According to the leading head of the analytical department of AMarkets Artyom Deev, the excessive strengthening of the ruble has recently become unprofitable for the country's economy.

As a result, the Central Bank in the foreseeable future will continue to remove restrictions on the financial market, which should put pressure on the Russian currency, the expert is sure.

“Russia's budget for this year is formed at the rate of 72 rubles per dollar, and the current value of this currency within 60 rubles significantly reduces the profits of exporters and budget revenues.

In order to prevent a fall in the economic indicators of the raw materials sector, a serious reduction in GDP and the appearance of a budget deficit, the dollar and the euro must be brought to rates above 70 rubles, ”explained the interlocutor of RT.

  • Legion Media

In new conditions

Although the situation in the economy began to gradually stabilize, the situation still remains difficult, Elvira Nabiullina admitted.

In her opinion, in the current circumstances, the country's leadership needs to be flexible and respond quickly to the ever-changing situation.

“The external conditions have indeed changed for a long time, if not forever, and have changed significantly.

We, as a country, are currently losing from participation in the international division of labor, because our exports are at a discount, and imports are at a premium.

And in these conditions, it is necessary to rethink the benefits of exports,” Nabiullina emphasized.

Since the money from the supply of goods abroad is not used to purchase imported products, a significant part of the production should work for the domestic market, the head of the Central Bank explained.

Thus, against the background of external restrictions in Russia, it is planned to build a new, more efficient economic model, Presidential Aide Maxim Oreshkin said during a discussion on the sidelines of the SPIEF.

At the same time, according to him, there will be no return to the closed and non-competitive economy of the Soviet Union.

“What will be the model of the future, we still have to determine.

The thousand-year history of Russia shows that we always manage.

Let's do it this time.

It will take effort, work, effort.

But we will do it, ”Oreshkin emphasized.

  • Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation for Economic Affairs Maxim Oreshkin

  • © RIA Novosti / Alexey Danichev

A similar point of view during the discussion was voiced by the head of the Ministry of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov.

As the minister noted, it takes time to adapt to new conditions, but the experience of the pandemic allows us to quickly overcome the consequences of Western sanctions.

“If in covid the task was to wait it out and we understood that after the pandemic the world would be different, but generally similar, now the degree of similarity will be completely different.

Our task is to “buy” time, but this time is needed for structural adjustment to take place.

The world economy is completely changing, and our economy, under sanctions pressure, reorientation of supply chains, restructuring of production chains, will also change,” Reshetnikov added.

Nevertheless, now the Ministry of Economic Development assesses the prospects for the Russian economy more optimistic than a few months ago.

So, for example, at the end of April, the ministry predicted a fall in Russia's GDP by 8.8% by the end of 2022.

In mid-May, a probable decline was already estimated at 7.8%, and in the near future the agency is going to improve the forecast again, Reshetnikov said.

According to the latest Central Bank polls, Russian economists on average expect Russia's GDP to contract by 7.5% this year.

Meanwhile, Maxim Oreshkin expressed the opinion that the figure would decrease by no more than 5%.

The significant improvement in forecasts is partly due to a noticeable deceleration of inflation in Russia.

He shared this opinion in a conversation with RT

financial analyst BitRiver Vladislav Antonov.

According to Rosstat, in mid-spring, the annual growth rate of consumer prices in the country rose to 17.8% for the first time in 20 years.

At that time, it was assumed that by the end of 2022, the figure could exceed 20%.

However, now inflation has slowed to 16.7%, and by the end of the year, the authorities predict a level of 15%.

“The decrease in inflation and the strengthening of the ruble allowed the Central Bank to return the key rate to the pre-sanction value of 9.5% per annum.

Low interest rates will allow businesses to borrow at lower interest rates.

With all this in mind, the economy should quickly adapt to new conditions and restart,” Antonov concluded.