Elvira Nabiullina. Photo: Marat Abulkhatin / Press Service of the State Duma of the Russian Federation / TASS
The key rate remains the same – 7.5% per annum. Such a decision accepted at a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Central Bank, which took place on April 28. In short, interest on deposits and loans in ordinary banks depends on the size of the key rate. And since the rate has not changed, they will also remain the same. The average rate on deposits in Russian banks today is about 8%, on mortgages – about 8.3%.
By tradition, after the meeting of the council, the head of the Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina, held a press conference. And told a lot of interesting things. Here is the highlight of her speech.
ABOUT THE FURTHER FATE OF THE BET
– We see that pro-inflationary risks prevail (that is, the danger of rising prices, – Ed.). Although our forecast, if you look at this year, allows for some possibility of a rate cut. Nevertheless, we continue to consider a rate increase more likely, – said the head of the Central Bank.
ABOUT HOUSING LOANS
Now a preferential mortgage at 8% per annum can only be taken for a new building. But the Bank of Russia believes that it would be useful to extend it to the secondary housing market.
– This is still not support for developers, but support for specific categories of people. And it doesn’t matter how they buy housing – in the primary market or in the secondary market, – Elvira Nabiullina believes.
True, it is not the Central Bank, but the government and the president, who decides which housing to give a preferential mortgage. And they also discuss this topic. A couple of weeks ago, Vladimir Putin raised this issue with Vitaly Mutko, head of the Dom.rf state corporation. And Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin later said:
– Of course, a reduction in mortgage rates for secondary housing would be a big plus. But this requires a lot of money.
ABOUT EXTERNAL MANAGEMENT
Recently, Vladimir Putin signed a decree, which allows you to enter temporary control over the property of “unfriendly” countries in Russia. 83.7% of the shares of the Public Joint Stock Company (PJSC) Unipro, owned by the German holding Uniper SE, and about 98% of the shares of PJSC Fortum, which are controlled by the Finnish company Fortum, have already come under the external control of the Federal Property Management Agency.
And there are still quite a few foreign banks operating in Russia – Italian, Austrian, German, etc. And the Central Bank does not consider it expedient to transfer the “daughters” of foreign banks under external management.
“As for the possibility of transferring Russian assets instead of allowing foreign owners to leave, these decisions should be made with very good reasons related to the stability of the functioning of the Russian economy,” the head of the Central Bank said.
ABOUT WESTERN DEFENSE
Russia will ban trading in shares of defense companies from “unfriendly” countries.
– One of the issues that needs to be resolved in this regard is how those people who bought these securities will be able to get out of them (that is, sell them – Ed.), – said Nabiullina.
Most likely, we are talking about the shares of such well-known companies as Boeing, Smith & Wesson, Lockheed Martin, etc.
DO NOT WAIT FOR FAVORITES
Currency restrictions will not ease
Since March last year, the Central Bank has introduced financial restrictions against the Russians. In particular, he forbade us to use our own money – we cannot withdraw more than $10,000 in foreign currency from our accounts. And now it is forbidden to take out more than the same $10,000 in cash abroad. This outrages many, but the Central Bank stands its ground. True, bankers are thinking about some kind of “tuning” of restrictions.
– With regard to currency restrictions and their tuning, we are not talking about loosening or tightening. This is primarily about tuning currency restrictions for legal entities. Various companies turn to us and talk about their peculiarities in carrying out foreign economic activity, and we are ready and able to take this into account when clarifying some of the currency restrictions that exist. Our task here is not to allow foreign exchange restrictions to greatly complicate foreign economic activity, Nabiullina said. And she added, so that no illusions would definitely arise: “Once again, we are talking primarily about legal entities.”
So it remains for our individuals to keep a sad expression and go under sanctions – from not only “unfriendly” countries, but also from their own Central Bank. At least those of our individuals who, despite all the Russian crises and economic problems, have managed to accumulate more than 10 thousand dollars.
