relation to the budget, but also to changes in the tax system. now both a tax manoeuvre and other taxation innovations are under discussion. and in our view during such discussions it is very important to take into consideration the possible impact on inflation and inflationary effects, and to make informed decisions on this basis. we hope that this will also be carried out by the ministry of finance and the government, in collaboration with the central bank. we also are in support of the project – long under discussion – for the issuing of ofz securities to the population. aside from anything else, for us this is a development which will increase effectivity of the monetary policy transmission mechanism, and as for the people – it provides them with an absolutely reliable and profitable alternative to deposits. we are not anticipating any negative impact on the banking system – currently the volume of such securities is not large, and under conditions of excess liquidity a small flow of funds in the form of ofz deposits will not prove problematic for banks. another project concerning government debt is the issuing of renminbi - denominated sovereign bonds. in our view, the issuing of renminbi - denominated sovereign bonds will provide russian corporate issuers with a benchmark for borrowing securities. major russian issuers have already expressed interest in this financial instrument. all necessary financial infrastructure has now been created, and changes to the law have been introduced accordingly. we are in cooperation with the people ’ s bank of china and currently there are no obstacles to this project ’ s deployment. we can now say that technically we are ready to issue these securities. in his speech mr. siluanov already mentioned some important initiatives, and here i would like to add to this list those initiatives which we consider to be important for the development of the financial sector. one of the major projects we are working on in cooperation with the ministry of finance is the reform of the leasing industry. we discussed this topic in meetings with mr. shuvalov, and we have now drafted a bill which is being readied for submission to the state duma. the main features of this bill include : - creation of a registry of leasing companies - determination of the minimal capital of leasing companies - increase in transparency of leasing companies 2 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches in our view it is extremely important, and already now being taken into account, that the leasing portfolio is valued at 3. 2 billion rubles. this is a very large number, and, of

the ministry of finance, along with the planned reduction in the budget deficit, will enable stabilisation of state finances. from the point of view of monetary policy, for us it is important that the elected strategy limits inflation risks arising from fiscal policy. fiscal policy impacts on monetary policy and vice versa, therefore it is important for us to have a regimen of ongoing consultation on this issue. and i hope that we will be continuing this dialogue once you have started ( and you practically already have ) work on the budget this year. last year the ministry of finance announced its plan to move to fiscal rule, and this year the transitional provisions for this plan have already begun. the bank of russia welcomes this decision. the move to fiscal rule will enable the russian economy to become less dependent on oil price fluctuations ; it will support macroeconomic stability and provide more predictability in policy making, as well as more predictability and reliability in the movement of interest rates in the economy. fiscal rule in conjunction with inflation targeting will enable stabilisation of the impact on the real rate of the ruble ; it will decrease the volatility of the ruble, which, though having already lessened significantly, nevertheless still poses a concern to russian production and business. 1 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches since february of this year, the bank of russia, acting as an agent for the ministry of finance, has been making purchases of foreign currency on the domestic market as part of the transitional provisions to fiscal rule. this is a mechanism to mitigate the influence of commodity market fluctuations on the russian economy, until such a time as these fiscal rules have been consolidated in the russian federation ’ s budget code. the bank of russia is acting so as to ensure that these purchases do not lead to an increase in the rate of the ruble. at the same time, the rate of the ruble remains floating, and continues to be influenced by market factors. however the impact of operations conducted on the nominal exchange rate is very limited, as the volume of monthly currency purchases will not exceed the volume of additional monthly budget oil and gas revenue from the excess of the actual oil price levels that are budgeted. i would also like to point out that the short - term inflation risks associated with the ministry of finance starting to make foreign currency purchases, evaluated by the bank of russia in its decision - making processes at the start of the year, have not been realised. clarity is extremely important for monetary policy, not only in