14 Dec 2018 16:56

CBR plans to resume regular FX purchases in full in Jan - Nabiullina

MOSCOW. Dec 14 (Interfax) - The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) plans to resume regular foreign currency purchases in the fiscal rule framework in full in January, Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina told a press conference.

"No. We propose to resume purchases in full," she said, when asked whether the CBR might not be resuming the full extent of FX purchases in January.

She said the CBR did not intend to change the formula for regular FX purchases.

The Central Bank said on Friday that it had decided to resume regular foreign currency purchases on the market in the framework of the fiscal rule from January 15, 2019.

"The Bank of Russia decided to resume regular foreign currency purchases in the domestic market as part of fiscal rule implementation from January 15, 2019. The decision was made given the stabilization in the domestic financial market. The decision on the foreign currency purchases in the domestic market that were postponed in 2018 will be taken after regular purchases resume. The postponed purchases may be carried out gradually in 2019 and in subsequent years," the regulator said in a press release.

The regulator suspended the FX purchases in August due to market volatility and in September it extended the moratorium until the end of 2019.

Nabiullina said FX purchases under the fiscal rule which were postponed in 2018 will take place gradually over several years. "The second decision made today was to resume regular fiscal rule-based foreign currency purchases from January 15. As we said earlier, the postponed purchases will be made gradually in the course of several years. We will decide on the fiscal rule-based foreign currency purchases postponed in 2018 in due course, after regular purchases are resumed. We have factored in this decision in our forecast," Nabiullina said.

Nabiullina said the CBR would not always be suspending fiscal rule-based FX purchases if risks to financial stability rise, and could use other means.

"We did indeed start to view the suspension of these fiscal rule-based FX purchases on the market as one means that we could use in the event of risks to financial stability. But we might not necessarily use this instrument again if risks to financial stability arise because we have a number of other instruments. We will act depending on the situation," she said.

The CBR does not see such risks at the moment, she said.