The Ministry of Finance called the limit on transfers the main barrier to investment from abroad

Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev called the monthly limit on the transfer of funds abroad by resident individuals and citizens of friendly countries a key barrier to investment from abroad. In March 2022, the Bank of Russia limited the transfer of funds abroad by resident individuals and citizens of friendly countries of $5 thousand per month, from July 2022 the limit is $1 million

Mr. Moiseev called the regime of special accounts C introduced in 2022 for persons from unfriendly jurisdictions another obstacle to investment. In the summer of the Central Bank introduced account C for residents under transactions of assignment of rights of claim by foreign creditors. “If we see that some investor from a friendly country, for example, an Asian investor, enters, but for some reason structures it through some unfriendly structure, this kind of thing could also be considered as a friendly investment,” the deputy minister explained to reporters. (quote from “Interfax”).

“The most important limitation is $1 million per month (transfer limit.— “b”), this is the most basic limitation,” said Alexei Moiseev. So he commented on the proposals to stimulate the inflow of investments, which are considered by the department.

According to him, the idea of ​​liberalizing restrictions on the movement of capital for foreign investors and Russian investors who want to bring in the Russian Federation the funds they hold abroad is being discussed quite actively, including with the Central Bank.

Earlier, the Ministry of Finance said that the authorities are considering the possibility of lifting capital restrictions both for new investments from friendly jurisdictions and from Russian investors wishing to return their capital to the Russian Federation. About it told Director of the Financial Policy Department of the Ministry of Finance Ivan Chebeskov.

As of January 1, 2023, on deposits of Russians in foreign banks kept 6.63 trillion rubles, or $94.3 billion, follows from the statistics of the Central Bank. In 2022, the figure more than tripled – Russians replenished deposits by $63.7 billion.

Read about the restrictions in the publication “Kommersant” “Translation to a Million”.

Maria Fedotova