businesses in hedging forex risks. question from tass agency : another question about the ruble and oil, if i may. the brent crude price has dropped by almost 13 % since the start of the year. the ruble has appreciated against the us dollar by roughly 7 % in the same period of time. does the central bank monitor the ruble ’ s dependence on oil? can you estimate how long this weakening of the ruble ’ s dependence on oil will last? thank you. elvira nabiullina : your question clearly demonstrates that the ruble is not only affected by oil. the oil elasticity of the exchange rate depends on seasonal factors, among others. on some occasions we have registered the elasticity ratio at 0. 9, it has even reached 1 during short periods. according to our estimates, it now stands at 0. 2 - 0. 3. you will see that the movement may even be reversely directed if other, more serious, factors affecting the exchange rate are in place. the exchange rate is governed not only by oil – oil is an important factor, but not the only one to influence the exchange rate. the depreciation of the ruble was also largely triggered by typical seasonal variation in the current account – the current account usually shows stronger performance in the first quarter, irrespective of oil prices. the second factor is the growth in oil prices and oil sales by exporters. the third factor is important but the central bank believes that it should not be overestimated or exaggerated. i am referring to certain inflows of capital, which are comparable to the inflows of foreign capital to emerging markets. further developments will depend on many factors : oil price movements, the fed ’ s policy, strengthening or weakening of the exchange rate, and the strength of our economy. there are many forces at play here. question from tv channel russia - 24 : mrs nabiullina, you have already mentioned that the central bank will support russian stateowned banks affected by sanctions in relation to the situation in ukraine. what specific measures are you going to take? thank you. elvira nabiullina : i would like to repeat and emphasise that we do not see any risk to financial stability of our credit institutions even if their investments in ukrainian assets depreciate completely, because they account for only a very small share of their assets. therefore we do not see any systemic risks here. our banks have already

actually stronger? and my second question, which is in some way related to the first. you mentioned that purchases of foreign currency are a possible means to replenish reserves, provided these purchases do not do damage to inflation targets. all indications are, we are on track to meet the 4 % inflation target by mid - year. can the central bank launch foreign currency purchases to replenish its reserves? thank you. elvira nabiullina : thank you. on the subject of the fundamental value of the exchange rate. it ’ s true that this concept is employed by many experts, and so too by us ; we have expressed this on several occasions. however, this concept must be treated with great care. my view is that this is a very conditional concept. we at the bank of russia have a number of models to measure this basic reading of the exchange rate. it would be fair to say that we estimate this deviation to be much smaller than does the ministry of finance. according to other models these deviations appear smaller. but in any case, what exactly is the fundamental rate of exchange? this is the rate of exchange necessitated by the current balance of payments, current account and capital outflow combined. yet it is anyone ’ s guess to gauge the exact influence of basic and short - term drivers on this value. this is, as i have previously stated, a very conditional concept. as we see it, in a floating exchange rate environment, as we see it, no matter what deviations are in place, the impact from objective factors will ultimately result in an equilibrium which brings the interests of exporters, importers and borrowers into balance. in our view the issue should be addressed in this way. second. our reserve replenishment policy. our strategy remains : when favourable conditions arise we will be able to replenish our foreign currency reserves to boost our safety cushion, improving both economic resistance to external shock and financial sustainability, with the understanding that forex reserves are a key instrument. let me say again though that our current forex reserves, by international standards, are adequate ; they are high. in this context, we are invariably committed to a policy of supplementing forex reserves only when we see no risk to our 4 % target, nor to this target in the mid - term. this [ resumption of forex 6 / 14 bis central bankers'speeches purchases ] would take place after evaluation of all factors. we have not yet made this decision