Reuters has learned of plans to plug the hole in the budget with the help of a weak ruble – RBC

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The Government and the Bank of Russia may cohere in the solution of the problem of the budget deficit at the expense of the informal targeting the ruble, told Reuters, citing sources in the government

The authorities are discussing the possibility of covert determining the desired level of the ruble, which will partially offset the federal budget losses falling oil prices, Reuters reported with reference to the two high-ranking officials of the financial unit. You will need assistance of the Central Bank in the form of calibration of rates and the volume of its foreign exchange operations, despite the formal independence of the Central Bank from the Government.

In any case, the government is not going to publicly set any targets for the ruble to address budget problems, said to Reuters, and the Central Bank stresses that the exchange rate is determined by supply and demand in the market. But in order to influence the exchange rate favorable for the budget side, the Bank of Russia does not necessarily return to the public targeting the ruble, said one of the interlocutors of the agency, – enough to adjust the speed and volume of transactions in the foreign exchange market.

In November in 2014 the Bank of Russia, spending about $ 70 billion from its reserves to support the ruble, has passed to the policy of floating exchange rate and inflation targeting. “The ruble is not fixed, and any targets on the level of the course or pace of change is not installed. The dynamics of the ruble exchange rate is determined by the ratio of foreign currency demand and supply in the foreign exchange market “, – stated in the Central Bank website. In other words, the exchange rate is not determined either by the Government or the Central Bank.

The government hoped this year’s budget on the basis of an average oil price of Urals $ 50 per barrel, but it is in 2016 the world oil prices fluctuate at around $ 30, and the Urals is even cheaper. At an oil price of $ 30, the planned budget with a deficit of 3% of GDP, could be short of up to an additional 2.5 trillion rubles., Said Finance Minister Anton Siluanov have to additionally use the Reserve Fund, to increase the revenue base. Bank of America Merrill Lynch expected in December, at an oil price of $ 30 a barrel to keep the budget deficit within 3% of GDP, needed the dollar above 100 rubles.

Russian Ministry of Finance “does not discuss or admit the possibility of purposeful weakening of the ruble “policy, said in response to Reuters to the press service department. “On the contrary, at the moment we are working on measures for fiscal consolidation and reduce the federal deficit. Such measures, from the point of view of the Ministry of Finance, will have a strengthening effect on the course “- said in a statement the Ministry of Finance, received by RBC.