Russia could reintroduce compulsory sale of FX revenues 'at any moment' -source

investing.com:

By Elena Fabrichnaya, Gleb Stolyarov and Anastasia Lyrchikova

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian authorities are discussing bringing back the compulsory sale of foreign currency revenues for exporters, five sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, with one high-level source saying that the change could be made «at any moment».

The need to reintroduce stringent capital controls comes as Russian authorities grapple with a sharply weakening rouble, which tumbled past 100 to the dollar on Monday. An emergency 350-basis-point rate hike by the central bank on Tuesday, to 12%, seems to have only slowed the currency's slide.

Five sources, who asked not to be identified because of the non-public nature of the talks, said authorities were discussing the forced conversion of FX revenues by exporters, a measure adopted shortly after Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022.

Russia's central bank and finance ministry did not respond to requests for comment on the matter.

One source at an exporting firm said the discussions concerned the forced conversion of up to 90% of exporters' revenues. Another source among exporters said a range of 80-90% was being discussed, with conversion required within 70-90 days after the export of goods.

Last year, the threshold was initially set at 80% before being gradually reduced to zero.

Other measures under discussion are bans on dividend payments abroad and prohibitions on import subsidies, the second exporter source said. Exporters who fail to return revenues to Russia could lose government support measures, too.

The source said businesses would pay for the government's mistakes.

«You can milk a cow to death, but once the cow dies, who will be milked? The