Russian authorities easing requirement for individual exporters to sell forex earnings - Siluanov

MOSCOW. May 18 (Interfax) - Individual Russian companies can sell a smaller share of foreign exchange earnings than the regulatory-fixed 80% share, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said.

"There is currently certain liberalization for the sale of forex earnings. We [immediately after tough sanctions were imposed against Russia in late February-early March owing to the conflict in Ukraine] returned to the sale of forex earnings, remember, it was 80%. We have now decided to reduce these sales on the amount of debt repayments for Russian banks. We have even set lower sale levels for individual companies, and we have a tool," Siluanov said.

Siluanov noted that as the situation on the Russian economy has been stabilizing, it is possible to remove the restrictions introduced as emergency response measures.

Russian presidential decree No. 79, dated February 28, 2022, established the regulation on exporters being required to sell 80% of their forex earnings within three days, and then the timeframe was extended to two months. Another presidential decree was published in March on allowing for deviating from the regulation upon receiving permission from the authorities. It has not been publicly reported previously that some companies have taken advantage of these easements.

The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) had previously proposed reducing the mandatory sale requirement from 80% to 50% for commodity exporters that generate the main forex earnings. The proposal, which was announced at the end of April, has not been implemented to date.