CBR expects suspension of mirrored forex purchases to drain 100 bln rubles of liquidity from banks in Dec

MOSCOW. Dec 11 (Interfax) - The Central Bank of Russia's (CBR) suspension of mirrored purchases of forex under the fiscal rule will lead to an additional outflow of liquidity from banks in the amount of 0.1 trillion rubles in December, the CBR said.

Forex purchases deferred since November 28 will be made in the course of 2025.

The CBR expects the banking sector to transition from a liquidity surplus to a liquidity deficit in 2025 that will gradually grow. This will be due to the CBR's deferred mirroring of transactions in excess of the fiscal rule carried out in 2024, which will lead to an outflow of funds from banks. Furthermore, the liquidity deficit will increase due to the growth of cash in circulation and mandatory reserves, the CBR said.

In 2024, the CBR expects a liquidity surplus in the range of 0.2 trillion to 1.0 trillion rubles.

The average liquidity deficit in the sector in November was unchanged at 0.1 trillion rubles. As before, the outflow was driven by CBR mirroring of transactions as part of the management and use of the National Welfare Fund (NWF).

The liquidity deficit was partly offset by the growth of Federal Treasury deposits and repo at banks due to the reduction of balances on the unified treasury account at the CBR. Cash money, the growth of which was close to past averages following zero growth in October, led to a small inflow of liquidity.