Exporters' sales of foreign currency revenues remains at high level - Nabiullina

MOSCOW. June 9 (Interfax) - Foreign exchange earnings now come in less evenly than before, but the volume of its sale by exporters remains high, Elvira Nabiullina, head of the Bank of Russia, said at a press conference on Friday.

"Indeed, there is a transition to settlements to a greater extent in national currencies, including in rubles. According to data for April, 41% of exports are already being paid in rubles. Foreign exchange earnings in other currencies, and not only in other currencies, are received less evenly than before, because there are problems with calculations, and so on. In general, we are seeing that the volume of sales of foreign exchange earnings remains high. Data for January-April show that the largest exporters sell somewhere around 78% of their foreign exchange earnings," Nabiullina said.

At the same time, she pointed out that there is a problem with settlements in the national currencies of other countries, in particular, in rupees, but its scale is not growing. "As for the problem of calculating in rupees, yes, there is a problem, but it cannot be said that it is so large in scale or that it is growing. It exists, but we do not see signs of its further growth," Nabiullina stressed.

She added that problems like these arise primarily from imbalances in trade. "If there is an imbalance, and we have one, unfortunately, with many countries, then yes, the question arises of accumulating assets in the national currency and using them by either transferring them to other currencies, or keeping them in some kind of assets," the head of the Central Bank said.