06 December 2017, 16:08 / Finance

Dvorkovich did not rule out issuing special bonds for asset repatriation

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich did not rule out the implementation of a proposal to issue special government bonds for businessmen who fear American sanctions.

“I cannot rule it out,” Dvorkovich said (quoted by Reuters), noting that the authorities are considering a way to stimulate the repatriation of assets to Russia.

Dvorkovich later clarified that this proposal was not being discussed in the government. “Maybe someone came to the Ministry of Finance and asked about this. I have not heard about this specific initiative, but various forms of returning capital to Russia are being discussed all the time,” Interfax quotes Dvorkovich. Any kind of amnesty for the return of capital, of course, can be discussed, the Deputy Prime Minister added.

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Dvorkovich noted the importance of creating favorable conditions for investment and return of capital to Russia. “We are now trying to facilitate the creation of various types of funds and partnerships where people could invest money, where there would be no severe tax consequences and there would be legal protection. It seems that we are coming up with mechanisms for co-investment with venture funds,” he listed. “That is, we are trying to create good conditions for investing in Russia, and not just so that money from an account in a foreign bank is transferred to an account in a Russian bank.”

Reuters, citing informed sources, reported that wealthy Russians, fearful of US sanctions, came up with a proposal to issue sovereign bonds of the Russian Ministry of Finance denominated in foreign currency in order to be able to profitably return their capital to the country.

This information was confirmed to Vedomosti by two officials from the financial and economic bloc. “There were requests from large businesses to the authorities with a request to create a convenient tool for returning personal capital to Russia in foreign currency,” said one of the officials. We are talking about an amount of approximately $3 billion, another official clarified.

Deputy Head of the Russian Ministry of Finance Alexei Moiseev told reporters on Wednesday that he does not see the need to come up with special tools to return foreign currency assets to the country.