In the third quarter of last year, individuals exported the highest amount of funds from Russia in the past three years – more than $12 bln. The amount transferred to Israel and Switzerland significantly increased, as well as to Austria, France and the US, Izvestia daily reported.
At the same time, only 30% of the money transferred abroad went to Russia’s closest neighbors, according to the Bank of Russia data. Money is exported mainly by citizens and tax residents of Russia, not foreigners. Experts note that this may have been triggered by the government’s plans to wean the national economy off the dollar. Fearing some form of confiscation of dollars or foreign currency accounts, Russians decided to hide their savings in advance, transferring them to financially reliable countries. Transfers to Israel grew by about a third to $125 mio, and to Switzerland by more than 60% to $2.5 bln. Transfers to the US also grew by 20% ($661 mio), sending America up to the second place by this indicator.
Overall, in the first nine months of 2018, almost $35 bln has flowed out of Russia, 8.5% more than the same period last year. The outflow may have additionally grown at the yearend, but the Central Bank has not yet published the last quarter’s figures. Apart from the fears of losing dollars, the outflow of funds may be influenced by businesses’ tactics to cut taxes. Also, an increasing number of wealthy citizens send their families for permanent residence to other countries and transfer the money earned in Russia to support them.