UPDATE: Russian central bank sees 2016net capital outflow at $40 bln

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MOSCOW, Mar 18 (PRIME) -- Net capital outflow from Russia is likely to stand at around U.S. $40 billion in 2016, Central Bank Chairwoman Elvira Nabiullina told reporters following a meeting of the board of directors on Friday.

Earlier the regulator expected that net capital outflow from the country will amount to $53 billion.

“We will see no high capital outflow. Under a baseline scenario, it will stand at about U.S. $40 in 2016, after that it will grow a bit. So we expect no significant changes in central bank’s international reserves,” she said.

In its report on monetary policy, the central bank also improved its estimate of the capital outflow for 2017 by $1 billion to $47 billion, but the estimate for 2018 was worsened by $6 billion to $52 billion. The redemption of external liabilities by Russian companies and banks is still one of the most important factors for the capital outflow, the regulator said.

According to the schedule of external debt redemption of banks and other sectors of the economy, Russian companies are to redeem about $80 billion of external debts in 2016, though the actual redemption will amount to $30 billion.

“Taking into account the continuous inflow of liabilities on direct investments’ articles, intra-group credits and loans, and refinancing of part of debts, the net contraction of liabilities of the private sector will stand at $30 billion,” the central bank said.

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