Anton Siluanov, the finance minister of Russia, has announced that the Central Bank of Russia will expand the pilot phase of the digital ruble next year to include the execution of still undefined targeted budget expenditures.
Digital Ruble to Be Leveraged for Budget Expenditures
The digital ruble, Russia’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), is now projected to be used to settle certain kinds of budget expenditures, according to Finance Minister Anton Siluanov. In a recent intervention at the upper house of the Russian Parliament, Siluanov informed on the new use of the digital ruble and how this process would be organized jointly with the Central Bank of Russia.
Siluanov stated:
We had a meeting headed by Central Bank Governor Elvira S. Nabiullina literally last week, on Friday, on the issue of using the digital ruble in the budget process. We agreed that starting next year, we will have a pilot on certain expenditures where the digital ruble will be used.
The digital ruble pilot was launched in August after the approval of the digital ruble CBDC law by President Vladimir Putin. Since then, 13 banks have been involved in the limited test which is “going as planned,” according to Central Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina.
Expenditures Still to Be Determined
Siluanov emphasized the importance of using the digital ruble not only for avoiding high fees but also for executing payments where the funds need to be targeted for specific purposes, including social payments and subsidies destined for purchases or payments of services.
These statements seem to contradict announcements made in July by First Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of Russia Olga Skorobogatova, when she stressed that the digital ruble would not be used to pay for pensions or benefits for citizens, unlike the digital yuan, China’s CBDC.
Siluanov declared:
We agreed that we will define several types of such expenditures, on which the pilot will be launched next year. The Treasury has received a respective request. The Central Bank together with the Treasury will perform this task.
The Russian government is also studying using the digital ruble for making international payments as part of a CBDC settlements network. Recently, the Central Bank of Russia announced that it would start to develop a digital ruble-based payments system in partnership with the UAE.
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