| Minsk streamlines settlements with Russian residents While the Ministry of Justice of Belarus declared the agreement on the introduction of a single currency to be contrary to the constitution of the republic, the National Bank of Belarus continues to streamline relations between Russian and Belarusian participants in foreign economic activity. Moreover, liberalizing them to a greater extent, without forgetting, however, to keep an eye on the situation.
Last year, the National Bank of Belarus significantly softened the rules of the game in the foreign exchange market and actually tied the national currency to the Russian ruble, as a result, as dealers of soft currencies believe, the market has become significantly more active. And it has also become more convenient for Belarusian exporters and importers working with Russia.
Now, by its resolution, the National Bank has tightened the requirements for Russians to open type “T” accounts (so-called transit accounts) - now this requires permission not only from the Central Bank of Russia, but also from the National Bank. However, according to Metallinvestbank soft currency dealer Selim Agarzaev, this does not matter much, since the volume of transactions on these accounts has been small recently.
As a result of the changes, says Mikhail Zhuravovich, deputy head of the press service of the National Bank, “residents of Belarus will transfer payments to Russian residents only to the latter’s accounts in Russian banks. In Belarus, all payments will be made only through authorized banks.” There are seven such banks, all of them have permission from the National Bank to conduct foreign economic settlements and guarantee the preservation of foreign currency deposits.
The adoption of this resolution by the National Bank is explained by the need to streamline settlements. “Now payments by residents of Belarus and Russia will be more controlled and transparent, which will help avoid fraud,” said Mikhail Zhuravovich. At the same time, the adopted standards do not apply to residents of the international business center “Ingushetia”. Settlements with them will continue to be carried out only with the permission of the National Bank. “This is an offshore zone that is not subject to Russian currency control legislation. This opens the way to all sorts of dubious transactions. Therefore, we decided to play it safe,” says Mikhail Zhuravovich.
However, so far the resolution is only undergoing examination by the Ministry of Justice. However, in any case, the overall situation will not change much. The National Bank keeps the situation under control, the ruble exchange rate is stable and quite predictable. “After liberalization, the market became more active, but there is no serious pressure on the Belarusian currency. Consequently, there is no reason to tighten foreign exchange regulations, but, on the contrary, further liberalization is visible. For the economic entities of our countries, the situation will only improve,” says Selim Agarzaev. Nikolay KUZNETSOV, Yuri ANDREEV, Minsk |
|
