Nabiullina denies blame for the ruble exchange rate, but promises there will be no default
Chairman of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation Elvira Nabiullina believes that Russia is not in danger of default. She stated this today in the State Duma of the Russian Federation, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Russia has all the necessary financial resources. We are not threatened with any default,” Nabiullina said.
State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin praised her for her “responsible statement” and invited deputies to applaud.
At the same time, Nabiullina did not admit her responsibility for the rise in the dollar exchange rate.
“I will remind you of the objective prerequisites from 2014. Large-scale sanctions were imposed against us. We had limited access to financial markets. During these periods, we had a significant drop in oil prices, down to negative values. And oil and gas are our main export goods. The state of the economy and market conditions changed significantly. We did not pursue a policy of special depreciation or special appreciation of the ruble. The exchange rate was formed in a market manner depending on the demand of exporters and importers,” Nabiullina said.
She also does not consider her decision not to direct money into the economy, but to accumulate it in the National Welfare Fund (NWF) to be wrong. A significant part of these funds is now frozen in Western banks.
“Accumulation of funds in the National Welfare Fund is aimed at accumulating funds when the situation is good and spending them when it is bad. So that people's incomes do not depend on fluctuations in oil prices. This is what any family does. Despite the fact that part of the reserves are frozen, we will transfer money to the government, we just will not be able to mirror this on the foreign exchange market. The volume of NWF funds that the government can channel into the economy will not depend on whether the reserves are frozen or not,” Nabiullina said.
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