The government will develop a plan for the deadllarization of the economy

Dmitry Medvedev. Photo from the government website

The government is preparing its project on the deadllarization of the Russian economy, three sources of The Bell, familiar with the course of discussions, told. After one or two weeks, he should be approved by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, says one of them. The bill is being prepared “based on” the plan of the head of VTB Andrei Kostin, which he introduced to Vladimir Putin in July.

• Kostin, presenting Putin his plan, spoke about the need for measures aimed at expanding the use of the ruble in international calculations, and asked them to support them. Today, the head of VTB stated that the president of the "as a whole" supported his proposal for the deadllarization of the Russian economy.
• There is no question of a complete rejection of the dollar, Kostin reassured. According to him, "this plan is completely long-term and is more likely to change the world's trend than some momentary one-time solution." According to his assessment, it will take at least five years to gradual deadllarization.
• The government plan does not provide for any restrictive or prohibitive measures, “there will be no ban on dollars”, the interlocutor assured the Bell in one of the departments participating in the discussion of the issue. The main emphasis will be placed on the creation of opportunities for calculations in national currencies, he says. And also - to relieve foreign exchange control and liberalization of currency legislation, another source adds.
• The bill on a gradual departure from settlements in dollars, which provides for the liberalization of currency legislation, is really prepared, confirms the third official. But this is not the result of Kostin’s proposals - the plan has been discussed since Trump signed last year's sanctions law (Caatsa), he says.
• The largest trading partners of Russia are China and the EU. The goal is to translate the calculations with them in Yuan and the euro as much as possible, and in the case of the EAEU countries - to rubles, one of The Bell's interlocutors describes.
• The Central Bank, VTB and other largest banks, as well as exporters, participate in the discussion of the plan, but there will be no forced measures to refuse business to calculate in dollars, he says. The main thing is to create convenient mechanisms that will allow businesses without unnecessary losses to make calculations in any currencies.
• To do this, you need to solve a lot of technical issues, in particular, at the level of central banks to create tools that will give access to liquidity in the currency of another country, bypassing the need to purchase it in foreign exchange markets. Such negotiations are underway, the interlocutor of The Bell said, without opening the details. In any case, it is clear that Russia will not be able to create a financial infrastructure that is invulnerable to American sanctions alone, but now the mood about this, in particular, is changing in Europe (the European Union countries have recently been discussing the creation of their own payments system, which would allow European companies to avoid US sanctions against Iran, without risking to be under secondary sanctions).
• To increase the role of the ruble in international accounts, which Kostin spoke about, at the same time, the economists say - one cannot force the world to be calculated in weak currencies

From the point of view of ordinary citizens, dedollarization has already occurred. Buying real estate, cars, all those calculations that were previously conducted in dollars have long been carried out in rubles. And against the most terrible predictions of Kostin, the government and even Dmitry Peskov have already acted on the forced conversion of dollar contributions to other currencies to other currencies.

Anastasia Stoguster, Irina Malkova, Alexander Prokopenko (for The Bell)