Integration first. Why Moscow didn’t help Minsk with $ 18 billion gratis

It became known how Russia will use the "free" $ 18 billion received from the International Monetary Fund. Instead of using them for financial assistance to the poorest states or helping Belarus, which found itself in a difficult economic situation, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation will simply put them on the accounts of the Central Bank, thereby increasing its gold and foreign exchange reserves. Somewhere far away, in Minsk, “Batka” clearly sighed sadly. Why did the Kremlin decide to dispose of the "humanitarian aid" from the IMF in this way, bypassing Belarus?

As we have toldThe SDR (Special Drawing Rights), or Special Drawing Rights that the International Monetary Fund has so lavishly distributed, is not really money. These are their surrogate substitutes, which can be used for a very narrow list of financial transactions, such as settlements on debts to the IMF itself. Under certain conditions, however, SDR can be exchanged for real currency, but for this it is necessary to negotiate with another country that will agree to such an operation. True, then the state, which exchanged its SDR for real money, will have an obligation to pay interest at an average rate of 3,8%. It is possible that in order to drive the poorest countries into even greater financial bondage, this "charity" was ultimately started. The IMF officials are definitely not “disinterested benefactors”.



And what about Russia? We got the equivalent of nearly $ 18 billion in Special Drawing Rights. Moscow faced three main options for how this unexpected "gift" could be disposed of.

At first, the head of the IMF Kristalina Georgieva directly "hinted" that Special Drawing Rights should be donated to a number of the poorest countries. Like, improve their "karma", but in fact put them on a new debt hook. However, the Russian leadership did not want to take this path.

Secondly, the possibility of providing financial assistance to friendly Belarus was considered. Thus, Minsk itself received SDR from the International Monetary Fund in an amount equivalent to $ 900 million. Russia could exchange these surrogates for Belarus for real money at a rate of 3,8%. Another option was to transfer all our special borrowing rights to an ally in the amount of less than $ 18 billion so that Belarus could use them for settlements with creditors. However, this has not yet been done.

Instead, the RF Ministry of Finance chose the third, simplest and most banal path. Timur Maksimov, Deputy Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation, explained the following in this regard:


Immediately, publications appeared in the domestic press criticizing this decision. It is indicated that Russia's gold and foreign exchange reserves have already reached a historic maximum, amounting to $ 618,8 billion. SDRs worth $ 18 billion won't make the difference just lying in the accounts, so why not try to use them to some advantage?

For my part, I would like to note that monetizing special drawing rights for such an impressive amount can be quite problematic, since first you still need to find someone who is ready to exchange real money for surrogates. The option with financial assistance from Belarus seems more preferable, however, she clearly intervened in the matter policy... Note that the RF Ministry of Finance demonstratively piled up "free" billions of dollars in its "money box" on the eve of the meeting between Presidents Putin and Lukashenko, which is to take place today. Vladimir Vladimirovich and Alexander Grigorievich will discuss pressing issues in the order of the protracted integration of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus within the framework of the Union State.

Recall that the agreement on its creation was signed back in 1999, but for all the past decades, nothing went further than words. Minsk regularly showed approval of the idea of ​​integration and imitated movement towards Moscow, but was always interrupted at the very last moment. There is not a single currency of the two countries, not a single Civil and Tax Codes, not an official Russian military base in Belarus, not much else that has been promised. But Aleksandr Grigorievich wants gas at a price for Smolensk, reselling it to his consumers through a pipeline in the form of Beltopgaz.

Today, September 9, 2011, a summit meeting of the leaders of the two allied countries will be held, during which the signing of the next "road maps" is expected. If progress on the issue of integration is real, then it will probably be possible to think about $ 18 billion.