Russian finance ministry plans to buy FX bypassing Central Bank

The treasury - which is a part of the Russian finance ministry - may start independently buying foreign currency on the market without the central bank involvement from 2018, the head of the treasury, Roman Artyukhin, said.

"There is such a task. If we create such a mechanism together with the Central Bank by the end of the year, I think that we will start in the new year," Artyukhin said, adding that for such purpose it is necessary to adopt several normative acts, as well as make a number of amendments to the legislation," RIA Novosti reports.

Currency purchases will be carried out for the current needs of the budget and to replenish the Reserve Fund and the Russian National Wealth Fund.

Advisor on macroeconomics to the CEO of the 'Opening-Broker' brokerage house, economist Sergey Hestanov, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, explained that such decision will greatly simplify the treasury's work. "From the economic point of view, there is no big difference between buying the currency by the Central Bank and the structures under the Ministry of Finance, but it is much more convenient for the department to make such decisions independently," he said, adding that it is due to the presence of three reserve funds in Russia.

"The first is the international reserves of the Russian Central Bank, the second is the Reserve Fund of the Ministry of Finance, and the third is the National Wealth Fund. The need to apply to the Central Bank for the purchase or sale of currency creates departmental difficulties for the ministry," Sergei Hestanov said.

Changes in the financial block are not expected in this regard. "The exchange rate will also not be affected," the advisor on macroeconomics to the CEO of the 'Opening-Broker' brokerage house stressed.