Titov criticized the idea of ​​buying $70 billion in “friendly” currencies

The idea of ​​buying $70 billion in yuan and other “friendly” currencies is “an old song about the main thing,” and Russia should invest in the growth of the Russian economy and not measure the reliability of the system in the amount of accumulated reserves, said business rights commissioner Boris Titov.

Previously, Bloomberg, citing a government project informedthat Russia is considering buying $70 billion this year in yuan and other “friendly” currencies to slow the ruble’s appreciation.

“Of course, the idea of ​​the Central Bank to fight for the depreciation of the ruble is commendable. But the proposed path is an old song about the main thing. Again foreign exchange reserves – only now not “Western”, but in connection with the changed geopolitics – Eastern. But it is necessary to measure the reliability of the system not in the amount of accumulated reserves, but in percentage of GDP growth,” wrote Titov in his Telegram channel.

According to the business ombudsman, Russia first of all needs to invest in the growth of the processing and manufacturing economy. Titov considers the country’s stock market to be “underdeveloped” compared to other countries.

“We need “quantitative easing” – investments in growth by buying up company bonds to develop their production, implement new high-tech projects,” Titov said.

According to Bloomberg, the plan to buy $70 billion in “friendly” currencies received support on August 30 at a special meeting with senior government and central bank officials, including Central Bank Chairman Elvira Nabiullina. First Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank Dmitry Tulin then declaredthat the use of currencies of countries friendly to Russia for settlements and storage of assets is much safer, since the likelihood of their joining Western sanctions is low.

After the start of the special operation in Ukraine, Western countries froze the reserves of the Russian Central Bank. In the EU, $24.5 billion (23 billion euros) of assets were frozen, which was approximately 10% of the total number of international assets of the Russian Federation, said EU Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders.

On June 29, the US Treasury Department reported on the freezing of assets of Russians in the amount of more than $30 billion. subject to sanctions, and limit Russia’s access to the global financial system. According to the Central Bank, from January 1, 2022 to August 1, 2022, the international reserves of the Russian Federation fell by almost $54 billion.