Russians’ foreign-currency deposits in overseas banks surged the most in at least four years last quarter, according to the central bank.
(Bloomberg) — Russians’ foreign-currency deposits in overseas banks surged the most in at least four years last quarter, according to the central bank.
Deposits of Russian households in foreign banks increased by 1.5 trillion rubles ($21 billion) compared with 551 billion rubles in the second quarter, data published on the Bank of Russia website on Friday show.
That’s a record for the figures, which go back to the beginning of 2018.
At the same time, deposit accounts in domestic banks both in local and foreign currencies shrank by 1.3 trillion rubles in total.
The central bank doesn’t provide data on the currency structure of the deposits.
The Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine in late February and subsequent mobilization of civilians led to an exodus from Russia to neighboring states as well as some other countries.
The central bank reported last month that the military call-up provoked withdrawals from deposits in dollars and euros in local banks, as well as a surge in purchases of the currencies on the local bourse.
Policy makers repeatedly warned about risks associated with so called “unfriendly” currencies and called for a switch to others such as the yuan.
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