The ruble did not respond to the authorities’ plans to fine exporters who do not sell foreign currency earnings. Such a bill was submitted to the State Duma after a presidential decree obliging the largest companies to share their currency on the stock exchange. Now parliamentarians want to establish liability if such a requirement is not fulfilled. As follows from the text of the document, the amount of punishment varies from 75% to 100% of the amount that the company did not sell in the prescribed manner. Among the authors of the initiative is Senator Andrei Klishas. It was at his suggestion that this norm was abolished 10 years ago.
Partner at OrlovaErmolenko, Alexander Ermolenko, believes that from a legal point of view the idea is logical. Although exporters would comply with the requirement without threats, he continues: “Currency legislation is based on the fact that there are regulations and responsibility, and it is collected in the Administrative Code. If a claim is returned, it would be logical to introduce liability.
Another thing is that banks, being agents of currency control, themselves put pressure on business in the current conditions, when they are controlled by the Central Bank and risk their license, it is quite difficult not to sell the proceeds. Therefore, everything can work here without this measure. On the other hand, this is a legalist approach: there are rules – there must be a sanction.
As for its size of 75-100%, in currency legislation this is considered the norm. These are strict measures, so it is one of the most respected.”
Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the sale of foreign currency earnings by exporters on October 11. This decision immediately affected the value of the ruble, even before the authorities determined the volumes that needed to be sold. The national currency strengthened by almost 4 rubles, to 97.5 rubles. for a dollar. And at the end of October it reached 92 rubles. for a dollar.
On November 1, Vladimir Putin stated that the decree on the sale of foreign currency earnings had a positive effect on the Russian currency. And this is indeed the case, therefore the bill on fines for failure to comply with the requirement is rather a political decision, independent expert on financial markets Alexey Bushuev is sure:
“These are political levers of influence on the economy, in particular on exchange rate. Accordingly, the options for introducing fines and generally some kind of regulation at the legislative level can be considered as a redistribution of the regulatory functions of the Central Bank to other bodies. Thus, it is said that the regulator is not coping.
Observers have repeatedly noted that now presidential decrees will regulate currency control measures or standards that are usually established by the Central Bank. Many experts agree that the Central Bank has enough not only political instruments to influence the exchange rate and keep it stable, but this function has not been fulfilled.
It is very difficult, given the presence of so many hidden political factors, especially related to the military situation, to speak unambiguously about the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the regulator’s actions. Locally, this is all in order to show exporters that the game is serious, we won’t get by with the Central Bank simply establishing the old principle “twice two is four, but we can come to an agreement.”
With the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, the authorities somewhat softened the currency legislation. For example, they abolished the penalty for late transfers of currency to Russian banks. This was due to difficulties in settlements and the refusal of foreign counterparties to fulfill their obligations.
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