Rollout of digital ruble on schedule, CBR sees no liquidity risks for banks - Nabiullina

MOSCOW. March 20 (Interfax) - The passage of a package of bills on the digital ruble and testing of the national digital currency are proceeding on schedule, and banks' concerns about problems with liquidity in the event the digital ruble is introduced have been discussed, but the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) does not see any risks, CBR chief Elvira Nabiullina said.

"As for the supposed accelerated consideration of the bill on the digital ruble, it is in no way accelerated, it is absolutely routine. We are also moving according to plan in terms of testing and in terms of the experiment, pilots," Nabiullina said at a press conference on Friday.

"We see positive outcomes from the introduction of a digital ruble. Some of banks' concerns that they will have problems with liquidity were discussed in detail over several months. We don't see such risks and so we will proceed as we intended, according to plan," Nabiullina said.

Earlier last week the State Duma passed the package of bills on the introduction of the digital ruble in the first reading. The deadline for approval of amendments for the second reading is April 14.