The government called for fines due to non-sale of foreign currency earnings

The government did not support the draft law with amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses after the relevant State Duma committee excluded from it fines for non-sale of foreign currency earnings. The review was published in the State Duma database on February 20, and it was noticed “Vedomosti”. According to the publication’s sources, the second reading of the document had to be postponed.

As noted in the government’s response, the original version of the draft was supported mainly due to amendments to Part 3 of Art. 15.25 of the Code of Administrative Offenses – they introduced administrative liability for violation of the rules for the mandatory sale of foreign currency earnings. This requirement was established by Presidential Decree No. 771.

Experts note that this measure supported economic sovereignty and has already led to results, ensuring monitoring of the operations of Russian exporters in the domestic foreign exchange market and leveling the sharp outflow of capital.

The bill was adopted in the first reading on November 30. Initially, he introduced two new fines: for non-sale of foreign currency by exporters and for non-purchase of shares of foreign securities of economically significant organizations when they are transferred to Russia. However, in the course of further condemnation, the State Duma committee supervising the bill proposed eliminating the requirements for the sale of foreign currency earnings.

A source close to the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs told Vedomosti that the State Duma committee made this decision after business requests to wait to tighten the requirements.

The first version of the document, which the government supported in October, envisaged fines for evading the sale of foreign currency for officials in the amount of 40-50 thousand rubles, for companies – a third or a quarter of the amount of unsold proceeds.

The requirement to sell foreign currency proceeds came into force on October 16, 2023. It was supposed to be valid until April 30 of this year, but the government decided to extend it for the whole of 2024. First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov said that the decree made it possible to stabilize the ruble exchange rate to 90 rubles. However, the Central Bank didn’t support extension of the measure. According to Vedomosti sources, consideration of the bill in the State Duma in the second reading has already been postponed twice.

About why exporters continue to hold currency abroad – in the publication “Kommersant” “Dollars accumulated in banks”.

Anastasia Larina