Russian Central Bank could establish macro-surcharges on foreign currency loans to exporters to reduce systemic risks
MOSCOW. Sept 16 (Interfax) - The Central Bank of Russia could establish macro-prudential surcharges on foreign currency loans to exporters to reduce systemic risks, the CBR said on Monday in a draft of the main directions to develop the financial market for 2025-2027.
"Although they [exporters] have a natural hedging ability, which reduces credit risk, growth in such lending still increases systemic currency risks and liquidity risks," the CBR said.
Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina announced last week that the CBR could, if required, use the instrument of macro-prudential surcharges on foreign currency loans to de-dollarize the bank balance and equalize the currency position of lending institutions.
The CBR notes the importance of the task to reduce the level of foreign currency predominance in the Russian banking sector. Russian banks' limited access to the global market owing to currency regulations in friendly countries, the risk of secondary sanctions, and other factors, leads to periods of increased demand for currency swaps. This is owing to the banks' need to replace a specific volume of short-term funding, specifically in order to manage an open currency position, the CBR said.
The CBR also plans to continue monitoring the currency market and identifying potential imbalances in supply and demand.
The CBR recalled that after the United States imposed sanctions against the Moscow Exchange Group in June 2024, the configuration of the Russian currency market changed. Specifically, trading in the U.S. dollar and euro moved entirely to the over-the-counter market, and the CBR began calculating the official exchange rates of these currencies to the ruble using the banks' operational reporting.
"Taking into account this experience, it will be possible to calculate their official rates using a cross rate absent reliable data on individual currency markets. The CBR will also continue to improve the reporting form for transactions concluded on the currency market," the Central Bank notes.
