Impending default, Russia without pounds, but with analytical imports. 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.
Russia started paying Eurobonds in rubles
The Ministry of Finance transferred presidential rubles to the National Settlement Depository for payments on Eurobonds – now Russia will be responsible for its debt for a new scenario, which will be appointed in the near future by Vladimir Putin.
Russia thus officially switched to ruble settlements on Eurobonds. Prior to this, rating agencies warn that they fix Russia’s default under such scenarios.
Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Thursday that the transfer of settlements into rubles does not mean Russia’s default on the public debt. On the contrary, the Ministry of Finance announced that it had fully repaid payments on current obligations in the amount of 12.5 billion rubles (about $235 million).
Russia has problems with payments on Eurobonds. They were incurred with the freezing of the country’s reserves, but despite this, the power returned to the currency. The United States suspended the implementation, which allowed to accept payments from Russia on public debt – this made it impossible to pay in dollars.
After that, settlements in rubles are carried out in the Russian Federation. Under the new rules, the Ministry of Finance will transfer rubles on bonds to the National Settlement Depository, which unexpectedly found itself under EU sanctions, and it will already be calculated by the holders of the paper.
Money for access from Western countries will be transferred to special foreign exchange accounts, from where they, according to the authorities, should take them. In the meantime, they do not take away, the funds on the accounts are indexed, according to the set of courses.
However, in some cases, there are cases when it comes to collecting this money, taking into account restrictions on the withdrawal of currency.
Whether foreign investors agree to this scheme is not clear. May 27 – in the meantime, within a month to find a way to exercise responsibility.
If rating agencies and investors do not count purchases in rubles in such good quality, then on June 27, on Monday, a default will be announced in Russia.
Will it change something internally? Hardly. A default could provoke an outflow of morbidity and a fall in the ruble. But in general, the economy has already collided with this economy because of the war.
Russia without pounds
Great Britain introduced a new ban against Russia, introduced a ban on the import of pounds and European currency in banknotes into the country. To this, the import to Russia and the European Union was banned by the US and EU countries, respectively.
Financial limits already held by Russian banks, which lead to different limits on the holding and use of currency. For example, several banks at once introduced a commission for servicing deposits in foreign currency, and this week they limited transfers in euros and dollars between independent banks.
British authorities on Thursday banned the import into Russia of aviation, goods and technologies related to work at sea, oil and its processing, chemical and biological problems. The ban also applied to service, brokerage and financial services associated with countless commodities.
Towards a Parallel Import Boom
As soon as the State Duma legalized parallel imports, several marketplaces announced at once that they would import goods in this way. Today to Ozon (reported) officially and “Yandex.Market” (wrote “Kommersant”) joined and the first retailer – “Svyaznoy”, declared his representative.
According to the new scheme, Apple and Samsung smartphones, as well as PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo game consoles will be transported to Svyaznoy. Svyaznoy’s former stocks will be enough for two or three months, which will then be sold imported in a gray way – that is, without a visa of the companies themselves.
Svyaznoy assures that all goods are guaranteed, and there will be no problems with activation, because all devices are for the EAEU (Armenia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan).
The only caveat is the price: Kommersant’s source on the market promises prices 10-20% higher than pre-war prices.
Nike is fading away
Today, Nike has been added to the endless list of companies that have left Russia. This was reported by Reuters with reference to a letter from the corporation.
In general, Nike suspended the work of mono-brand stores back in March, but some continued to sell off the remnants of products. At the same time, according to media reports, Nike continued to produce trade goods in “foreign” points of view.
Now all deliveries will stop, and temporarily closed stores will definitely not open – as they arise, in the foreseeable future.
Today, the BBC Russian Service published a study on how big the losses of companies leaving Russia and the state budget, which will lose their taxes, will be.
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