The volume of US dollars circulating in the Russian economy has reduced by $5 billion in the first half of 2006, said Alexey Ulyukaev, First Vice Chairman of the Central Bank of Russia.
According to him, the level of the dedollarization of the Russian economy in the beginning of the year is three times higher y-o-y. "Dollar is being forced out both as means of payment and means of hoarding," said Mr. Ulyukaev.
He thinks that the dedollarization of the economy allows to combine two contradictory trends - a disinflation trend and a ruble strengthening trend.
A stronger ruble does no harm to the Russian economy but, contrary to a traditional opinion, does it good, the first Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank Alexey Ulyukaev said yesterday. Russian producers on the domestic market have benefited rather than lost from a growing ruble in recent years, the official claims.
According to a conventional belief, the high ruble makes Russian goods less competitive than imported products. Statistics seem to prove this point of view. The share of Russian producers is quite hard to calculate but we can at least assess whether it declines or rises as the ruble is going up. The volume of imports has added some 15-30 percent since 2000, which is much higher that the GDP growth in the same period (between 5 and 10 percent). This is how we conclude that the share of import on the domestic market is expanding.
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