Econ Ministry: ruble depreciation reduces urgency of WTO obligations issue
MOSCOW. March 18 (Interfax) - The urgency of the need to alter Russia's obligations to the WTO has declined due to the ruble depreciation, the head of the Economic Development Ministry's trade negotiations department Maxim Medvedkov told journalists.
The proposals from the Agriculture Ministry and the Industry and Trade Ministry on modifying Russia's commitments to the WTO are nearly ready and will be formally submitted at the beginning of talks at the WTO. This will be done as soon as the technical work is completed.
The document will consist of two parts: the first concerns Russia's desire to raise import duties on a host of goods in order to protect domestic producers and the second concerns the compensation Russia pays.
"The second part, which we are ready [to submit], requires agreement with those that produce this in Russia," Medvedkov said.
A substantial factor today is the ruble's value against the main currencies. "This has in fact led to automatic growth of the effective tariff protection of the Russian market," he said, noting that a 10% change in the value of the ruble against the dollar or euro is roughly equivalent to a 1% change in the tariff.
"All things being equal, our industries currently need this protection a little less," Medvedkov said.
The less Russia imports, the less compensation it must pay, since compensation for the right to raise tariffs is reckoned based on the extent of the change in trade. "Accordingly, we must lower the tariffs for them in an amount that will increase trade by the same amount," he said.
In other words, the less Russia imports, the less the compensation. "This is good," Medvedkov said.