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Bank of Russia says international payments, blocked assets main sanctions-related problems

The market had been preparing to face the remaining issues since 2014, Elvira Nabiullina noted

MOSCOW, December 25. /TASS/. International payments and blocked assets were the main problem related to sanctions, Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina said in an interview with RBC business daily, adding that the country’s financial system was ready to face the remaining issues back in 2014.

"International payments became a problem, a real problem, they are still a problem, though we are trying to solve it. Of course, blocked and frozen assets of individuals, millions of people who were not sanctioned but had frozen assets, became a very sensitive issue. This is a challenging issue that we are trying to solve in different ways together with the government," she said.

The market had been preparing to face the remaining issues since 2014, Nabiullina added. "We have lived amid sanctions since 2014 already. This is why we have already estimated the risk of tightened sanctions and worked in all areas, including carrying out stress tests with many financial institutions," she noted.

The freezing of reserves is a very negative signal for all central banks as it contravenes the basic principles of safety of reserves, the regulator’s chief stressed. "However, the floating rate and foreign currency restrictions, rather tough, which we introduced last spring, helped us here as well," she said, adding that "it allowed curbing the financial stability risks."

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Central Bank of Russia

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