Vladimir Putin will sign a decree that will significantly liberalize the requirements for Russian exporters in terms of foreign exchange earnings, the Bank of Russia announced. The measures should help weaken the ruble, which has now become the main problem for the government and the budget. The first deputy chairman of the Central Bank, Vladimir Chistyukhin, spoke about the new measures, whose words are quoted by Interfax.

“We are now, in particular, preparing a draft presidential decree, according to which the requirement for the repatriation of foreign exchange earnings will apply to the volume of foreign exchange earnings that needs to be sold,” Chistyukhin said.

The deputy chairman of the Central Bank clarified that the new measures will affect the requirements for the mandatory repatriation of part of the foreign exchange earnings (that is, return to the country and conversion into rubles on the stock exchange), this requirement will be canceled in the new decree. Companies like Gazprom and Rosneft will be able to leave their foreign exchange earnings abroad without putting pressure on the foreign exchange market in Russia.

“If the mandatory sale is zero, as it is today established, then it means that repatriation should not be carried out,” the deputy chairman said.

However, the news about the next weakening of foreign exchange controls again did not impress the foreign exchange market. At 13:00 Moscow time, the dollar exchange rate was trading around 53 rubles, and the euro exchange rate was at the level of 55.73 rubles. The Russian currency continues to strengthen.

After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the exchange rate of the Russian currency collapsed twice, at its peak exceeding 120 rubles per dollar. To keep the currency market from panic, the Central Bank introduced severe currency restrictions on the stock and currency markets, which allowed the dollar to drop to multi-year lows. However, now a too strong ruble has become a problem for the Russian authorities, as the Russian budget suffers from this.

According to Raiffeisenbank's estimates, every ruble depreciation of the dollar reduces budget revenues by about 160 billion rubles. The strengthening of the ruble is proud of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who presents this event as proof of the stability of the Russian economy. However, even senior officials in the Central Bank and the government are already openly saying that the optimal exchange rate for Russia in the current conditions lies in the range of 65 to 80 rubles per dollar.