Currency leaving – Newspaper Kommersant No. 202 (7403) dated 10/29/2022

The Central Bank does not see an opportunity to take advantage of the presidential decree, which gave the regulator the right to issue permission for the export of cash currency in excess of $10,000 from the country. This decision is partly influenced by restrictions on the import of banknotes by the EU and the United States. At the same time, according to experts, the implementation of this right would help not only Russian tourists, who are limited in using Russian bank cards abroad, but also businessmen in establishing parallel imports.

On Friday, October 28, at a press conference following a meeting of the board of directors on monetary policy, the head of the Bank of Russia, Elvira Nabiullina, said that she did not see the possibility of using the right to issue permits for the export of foreign currency worth more than $10,000 from the country. Opportunities to increase the export limit “we don’t currently have cash currency for citizens, because we have limited access to cash currency, non-cash ones are more actively used as payment for our export goods,” she explained. In particular, back in early March, the EU banned the export of banknotes to Russia (see below). “Kommersant” dated March 2), and a week later a similar ban was introduced by the United States (see. “Kommersant” from March 11). At the same time, the Central Bank introduced a ban on withdrawing from their accounts cash currency purchased by Russian citizens before March 9, in the amount of more than $10,000 (in equivalent). However, buying at the exchange offices of banks was not prohibited.

The right to issue a permit for the export of currency in excess of $10,000 to the Bank of Russia in mid-October has provided Decree of the President of the Russian Federation.

The Central Bank was supposed to develop and adopt at the board of directors a document regulating who and in what cases can obtain such permission, but, judging by the statement of the head of the regulator, this document has not yet been adopted. The Central Bank did not respond to the corresponding request from Kommersant. However, after the decree was issued, not all experts saw the need for its urgent implementation. Thus, the chairman of the board of the National Payment Council, Alma Obayeva, considered that this would be a return to the currency regulation of the 90s of the last century, when they individually issued a permit for the export of currency.

At the same time, according to the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 81, from March 2, 2022, a ban on the export of cash foreign currency and monetary instruments in foreign currency worth more than $10,000 in equivalent on the date of export was established. However, each traveling family member, including minor children, can take the specified amount with them on the trip. According to Oleksandr Pavlovsky, a partner at atLegal law firm, this ban is unconditional, that is, it does not provide for any procedure to circumvent it, for example, in the form of obtaining special permission from the competent authority.

According to the Central Bank, individuals have been among the main buyers of non-cash currency on the stock exchange since the second half of April this year. During the summer months, they acquired at least $8 billion in equivalent. The currency was purchased “mainly through banks that made transfers to foreign accounts,” the regulator notes. However, in fact, without limitation (up to $1 million per month), you can transfer money non-cash and only to your accounts abroad. At the same time, according to the Central Bank, as of September 1, the population had a little less than $95 billion in cash. be aimed, among other things, at supporting Russian tourists and citizens traveling abroad for other reasons. “Since the cards of international payment systems issued by Russian banks have long been blocked, and the banks of Turkey, Kazakhstan, Vietnam, and Kyrgyzstan have ceased or are no longer accepting Mir cards, this can help,” he said.

But even if the Central Bank would start issuing such permits, it is not certain that this would help Russian tourists to take larger amounts out of the country, notes Igor Kuznets, partner of the ITS WM multi-family office.

“Most countries have requirements to declare cash that individuals carry across the border, this is due to the fact that the state needs to control the circulation of foreign cash in order to prevent cases of money laundering,” he says. Within the EU, the amount over €10,000 is subject to declaration. When importing into the EAEU countries (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan), it is also necessary to declare cash in excess of the equivalent of $10,000. However, declaring is not a ban on the import of foreign currency. And according to the lawyer of “KSK Group” Alexander Marin, the indulgences given by the presidential decree are aimed at restoring the import of goods to Russia, which “should have a positive effect on the Russian economy.”

Maxim Buylov