State Duma ratifies Contingent Reserve Arrangement Treaty

On 24 April 2015, the State Duma of the Russian Federal Assembly ratified the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement Treaty.

Under this document, if national financial systems encounter dollar liquidity problems the central banks of the BRICS countries will activate the mechanism of supporting their partner by transferring to it financial resources in US dollars on a fixed-term, cost-reimbursable and refundable basis. The concrete parameters of such operations will be established in a special agreement between the central banks.

The Central Bank will be vested with the powers to fulfill Russia's obligations arising from the treaty. According to the financial and economic feasibility study, the implementation of the treaty will not require additional budgetary spending, as all spending will be made from the Bank of Russia's international reserves and other resources as part of its current operations.