Order to sell 80% foreign currency to protect ruble currency
Korean trade industry screams “I can’t accept the export price”
“Payment-related difficulties / financial difficulties” 138 cases in 5 days
Russian President Vladimir Putin is presiding over the Economic Policy Conference at the Kremlin Palace in Moscow on the 28th (local time).The Russian government announced on this day that it will win the western sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine = provided by the Kremlin Palace. Moscow / AFP / Union News
In response to the tightening of sanctions against Russia by the international community centered on the United States, the Russian side brought out a strong foreign currency control card on the 28th (local time) and put an additional burden on companies that have business relations with the Russian region. ing. Russia’s foreign currency control measures require traders (participants in foreign economic activities) to sell 80% of the foreign currency they have secured since January this year. For companies investing locally in Russia or engaging in the local trading industry, it is a bee in tears in addition to the ripples associated with financial sanctions against Russia.
Jung Min-hyun, a deputy researcher at the Institute for Foreign Economic Policy (KIEP), said on the 1st that Russia’s measures were “preventing the ruble currency from crashing due to continued capital outflows (due to financial sanctions such as the United States). “It is thought that this is the reason,” he said. “Local companies will naturally have to be affected.” “In Russia, the negative effects of capital outflows have spread to the physical sector many times and the economy has slowed down, and financial authorities tend to respond aggressively and preemptively,” said Chung. did. According to the analysis, Russia’s intention is to prevent a vicious cycle in which aggregate demand shrinks and spreads to the real economy if capital outflows intensify, which again adversely affects the capital markets.
A person in the semiconductor industry said in a call with Hangyore, “(For the Russian corporation of a Korean company) there are many locally produced and sold locally, so in this case only the ruble currency (local currency) goes back and forth. So I don’t think it will be affected immediately, “he said.” Transactions that export outside the Russian region and receive dollars will be affected. ” Small and medium-sized enterprises engaged in import / export operations in Russia are also expected to be affected, and even if they are not directly subject to the measures taken by the Russian side, the local capital market will be shaken and the value of the ruble currency will be rattling. Indirect damage associated with stability is also expected.
Around the time of the announcement of the tightening of sanctions by the international community to exclude some Russian banks from the international interbank communication association (SWIFT), which is a dollar settlement network, a high sense of crisis was already formed among related companies. After the “Ukraine situation,” damage cases have been reported one after another to the specialized contact points set up at the Strategic Materials Management Institute of the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Korea Trade Association, and the Korea Trade and Investment Promotion Corporation (KOTRA). After the financial sanctions against Russia such as the United States, the number of companies complaining about difficulties related to “payment settlement” is increasing intensively.
The Trade Association announced on this day that a total of 138 cases (101 companies) had been received from the 24th to the 28th by telephone or online to the “Ukraine Emergency Response Team”. Of these, 81 cases were related to payment, accounting for 58.7%. Logistics was followed by 43 cases (31.2%) and information shortage by 10 cases (7.3%).
As an example of difficult payments, trade associations have reported that some cosmetics exporters to Russia and neighboring countries are not receiving payments from Ukrainian buyers. Local buyers are refusing to pay due to the collapse of the value of Russian ruble currency. The trader requested an extension of the bank loan deadline. A company that exports colored steel sheets is having difficulty recovering the price of contracts signed before the outbreak of the war and financial sanctions. The company has already sent the contracted quantity by ship, but said that it was unable to collect the money and was in financial difficulty, and requested export funding support.
Senior Reporter Kim Young-bae (Inquiries [email protected])
Translated by JS