Minister: Russia can make small tax adjustments for industries

MOSCOW, Jun 29 (PRIME) -- The Russian government can make small adjustments to reduce the tax burden on the industries that are important for the economy, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Wednesday at a meeting of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.

“We will conduct spot adjustments of the tax burden on the sectors of economy that are important for us,” he said, adding these decisions have already been made for the IT and tourism sectors.

Next week the government plans to consider the impact of the strong ruble on metals companies' margins that is now at 12–15%, he said.

Some foreign currencies have become toxic, and the ministry is no longer able to use excessive oil and gas revenues to buy them under the budget rule. But it may start impacting the ruble’s rate against the U.S. dollar and the euro by buying currencies of the friendly countries, Siluanov said.

The ministry suggests canceling repatriation of foreign currency revenue in Russia. It earlier abolished the mandatory foreign currency sales by Russian exporters, and now suggests making obligatory repatriation of foreign currency equal to a set amount of sales, which in the current case is zero, he said.

He also said that the authority may spend some budget money in 2022 on foreign currency interventions, but no decision has been made yet.

A sub-commission of the Russian government’s commission for foreign investment control supported the central bank’s suggestion on further foreign currency liberalization, he added.

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