“A decision to lower the level of revenues that exporter-focused companies must convert into rubles, under Decree No. 79, from 80% to 50%, has been taken in Minfin today by a subcommittee of the Government Committee on Foreign Investment in Russia,” the ministry said in a statement.
The Ministry officials explained, that this is linked to the stabilization of the ruble rate and reaching a sufficient level of foreign currency liquidity on the domestic currency market.
As Eduard Zernin, the chairman of the board of the Russian Union of Grain Exporters, told earlier Veterinary and Life, the issues connected with the obligation to convert 80% of foreign currency revenues were discussed with the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.
Eduard Zernin explained, that the very requirement of the mandatory conversion of foreign currency had a low impact on activities of exporter-focused companies, who were already using foreign currency to finance grain purchases from agricultural producers.
“However, tight conversion deadlines and some additional restrictions, as, for example, the inability to use the foreign currency revenue for servicing and repayment of a loan financing the deal, affected drastically the financial performance of grain exporters,” said the head of the Union.
