Requirement for Russian exporters to sell part of forex earnings comes back into effect after short pause

MOSCOW. May 26 (Interfax) - Exporters included in the list established by a Russian presidential decree are once again required to repatriate and sell part of their foreign currency revenues.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a resolution on May 22 extending this requirement until April 30, 2026. Earlier, a source familiar with the preparation of the document said that a decree with the new effective dates for the mandatory sale of foreign currency earnings had been signed on May 15. In its previous version, both the decree and the resolution were valid until April 30, 2025.

Thus, exporters included in the list approved by presidential decree, which is classified and not published, are from May 25, 2025, required to credit at least 40% of the foreign currency received under foreign trade contracts to their accounts in authorized banks, the government said. These companies are also required to sell at least 90% of the foreign currency credited to accounts in Russian banks on the domestic market, but no less than 25% of the funds received under each export contract, it said.

Thus, the basic parameters of the regime remain unchanged.

Mandatory repatriation and sale of a portion of export earnings in foreign currency was introduced in October 2023 for six months; the decree was later extended for a year until April 30, 2025. The decree itself, as well as subsequent decrees amending it, have not been published - these documents are labeled "for official use only" due to the confidential list of exporting companies. The details of the regime established by the decree are regulated by a government resolution.

Initially, exporters were required to deposit at least 80% of the foreign currency received from foreign trade contracts into accounts with authorized banks and sell 90% of this amount in the domestic market. In June 2024, the government announced a reduction in the repatriation threshold from 80% to 60%, and further reduced it to 40% in July, meaning exporters were required to sell 36% of their foreign currency earnings on the market. Initially, it was stipulated that at least 50% of the funds received, regardless of the currency , under each export contract had to be sold within no more than 30 days of receipt. In October this year, this threshold was lowered to 25%. The government's commission on foreign investment may grant exporters permission not to credit and not to sell foreign currency in amounts necessary for meeting their currency obligations, as well as if more than 50% of the foreign trade contract was paid in rubles.

The Finance Ministry when proposing to extend the decree for another year also wanted to clarify a number of provisions, including on clearing, Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseyev said in early March. At the same time, the ministry sees no need to adjust the basic parameters of the current regime, as exporters continue to fulfill the decree's requirements with a margin, he said. Even the current standards are exceeded by exporters, and the trend towards the ruble's strengthening is not related to the decree, Moiseyev said.

At the same time, agencies discussed updating the list of exporters subject to the decree, an Interfax source said - excluding several companies receiving symbolic amounts of foreign currency and adding enterprises with substantial export flows.

The Central Bank of Russia disagreed with the extension of the current regime in the present circumstances, Moiseyev said. "The government supported it, the Central Bank had objections. They believe that in the current situation, there's no need for an extension. We're ironing that out now," he said on April 16. Since then, there have been no official comments on the fate of the expiring decree, with only Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina saying at a press conference on April 25 that the regulator did not factor in the decree's potential extension in its updated macro forecast, as the CBR believes this factor does not affect the exchange rate.

According to the Central Bank, since the beginning of the year exporters have been selling around 90% of their foreign currency earnings on the domestic market, with the requirement under the latest version of the government resolution being 36%.