(Reuters) – Russia’s central bank said on Thursday that it was introducing restrictions on local firms’ access to foreign-currency cash for the next six months, the latest step to preserve precious hard currency in the face of sanctions imposed over Ukraine.
During the period of restrictions from March 10 to Sept. 10, local companies and entrepreneurs who want U.S. dollars, Japanese yen, British pounds and euros in cash can receive only up to $5,000 worth and only to pay for overseas work trips.
The Bank of Russia, whose gold and foreign currency reserves were frozen under the sanctions, added in a statement on its website that the $5,000 limit could be increased in special circumstances in consultation with the regulator.
Firms and individual businesspeople can access other foreign currencies in cash, without limits.
Earlier this week the central bank imposed restrictions on citizens’ ability to access foreign currency, saying they would not be allowed to withdraw more than $10,000 until Sept. 9 and that banks could not sell hard currency in cash.
The sanctions imposed over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two weeks ago have triggered the country’s worst economic crisis since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The central bank more than doubled its main lending rate to 20% and has provided extra liquidity to banks to try to cushion the blow, but the rouble and Russian assets have tanked.
The central bank has restricted local stock trading since Feb. 25, the day after the invasion, which Russia’s authorities refer to as a “special operation” to destroy its southern neighbour’s military capabilities and capture what it regards as dangerous nationalists.
(Reporting by Reuters)