The ruble is moving towards a reversal, while Starbucks and Levi’s are moving out of Russia. The main news of the conference for the day
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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is one of the worst economic crises in modern Russian history. The Russian service of the BBC talks about the main economic events of the day.
Ministry of Finance loosens gripku
Bloomberg Monday morning, citing sources informed: The Russian government demands a reduction in the percentage of income that exporters must convert into rubles. Just a few hours later, the Ministry of Finance announcedthat they can sell not 80% of foreign exchange earnings, as expected from February 24, but 50%.
Officially, explain this by saying that the ruble exchange rate has stabilized, and there are no problems with foreign currency on the market (both formally true). But in fact, the decision of the Ministry of Finance does not speak of the triumph of the ruble, but of “the growing discomfort of the authorities from its approach,” writes Dmitry Polevoy, investment director at Loko-invest.
The “discomfort” is due to the fact that the stronger the ruble, the less consumption from the sale of raw materials abroad in terms of the Russian currency. This worries both exporters and state budget compilers.
Today’s decision of the Ministry of Finance “discomfort”, if it eases, then not immediately. After being registered in the register, dollars and euros rose by a few rubles and are still trading at multi-year lows. Euro – about 60, dollar – about 57-58 rubles. BCS analysts attribute this to the fact that the lowering of the threshold to 50% did not come as a surprise to anyone.
Moscow is still rubber
Moscow will “take patronage” over Donetsk and Lugansk, informs RBC with reference to sources. Details remain to be seen, but the main point is that the Russian threat could lead to the financing of urban rebuilding from its own budget. About what amounts we are talking about, is still unknown.
Earlier, the fact that the Russian regions will take patronage over the areas of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics, said the deputy head of the administration, President Sergei Kiriyenko. He claimed that this was a personal decision of Vladimir Putin. He chose the sponsored regions a group “by self-awareness,” the Kremlin spokesman assured.
“Patronage” of the Russian regions established and beyond the territories of the annexed Crimea in 2014: for example, Moscow got Sevastopol, St. Petersburg – the Simferopol region, and Voronezh – the Dzhankoy district.
Fun and delicious, Ms.
The Russian media argued about the name of the sold former franchisee for the participation of McDonald’s. Added “Izvestia” with a link to the source wrotethat on signboards in Russia two letters “Mc” will be indicated, and “M” will be branded.
But the CEO of McDonald’s is right there in Russia declared TASS that the yellow letter “one hundred percent” does not keep the work in the design of the restaurant: “a new enterprise cannot be under the old brand.”
Levi’s got too small
The exodus of foreign business from Russia continues. In the wake of McDonald’s cheeseburgers and cherry pies, Russia is acknowledging another symbolism of the 1990s: the Levi’s denim chain, writes “Kommersant”. She came to Russia in 1993, and after the start of the war she suspended operations on the Russian market. Now Levi’s, according to the newspaper, has decided to destroy it completely.
Kommersant, with links to sources, describes different scenarios for the future of the brand in Russia. The following options are possible: either the goods already delivered to Russia are sold through foreign sites, or there is a buyer for the business (Turkish company Fiba Holding AS is appointed among the applicants).
Starbucks finally said goodbye
The symbol is no longer of the nineties, but of the “well-fed” two thousandths, the American Starbucks, I decided exit from Russia after 15 years in this market. After the start of the war, the company temporarily closed all 130 Russian coffee houses (there are more than 30 thousand in the world) and stopped supplying goods to their countries. Now these solutions are fixed as private.
In its withdrawal from Russia, Starbucks will assure that the payment will amount to almost a thousand salaries of its employees in green aprons within six months and they will be able to find work outside Starbucks. However, how exactly this will be implemented is unclear.
Starbucks plans not to sell, but to liquidate the Russian legal entity, Kommersant writes. It is called “Coffee Sirena” and has existed since 2007, when the first Starbucks opened in Russia. The network’s net profit in Russia in 2021 will pay a little less than 200 million rubles (SPARK data). And Starbucks as a whole, for comparison, it amounted to $ 4.2 billion over the same period.