Do you think this authority should remain independent, or should it once again be subordinated to the Ministry for Economic Development? Thank you. ELVIRA NABIULLINA: Many thanks for your questions. As for the guidance you mentioned – this is still in the works. It is not so simple, as we are all accustomed to comment on a variety of processes. This is common practice when experts, business representatives and governmental officials voice their opinions on the current economic and forex situation. In other countries these opinions are not usually referred to as verbal interventions – verbal interventions are normally understood as the statement of a central bank, and are taken as verbal interventions, as well, possibly, forward guidance, too. I think that markets will gradually adopt the right view of such communications, and become accustomed to them. At the same time, we are looking to develop some general rules in this area. The idea is to ensure a more careful approach. 5 / 14  BIS central bankers' speeches  On the subject of Rosstat, there are objective complexities. These are understood to arise when Rosstat makes estimates in the context of significant external changes, which causes structural shifts to take place. These changes have to be reflected in data series as they unfold – so as a result we are not immune to recalculations. While we do use the full set of Rosstat data, we have always drawn on additional data obtained through surveys.
It is now clear to everyone that low inflation must be good for people because price growth does not accelerate, food prices do not grow. However, perhaps not everybody has realised the benefits of sustainably low inflation for businesses, because we are yet to assure them that inflation will indeed remain low and stable, and companies may rely on this assurance in making plans and raising investment. I hope we will be able to achieve this in the forthcoming years. As for the development of the financial and banking sector, I would like to complete the so-called resolution policy and invest more in favourable conditions for banking and finance at large, in order to improve financial inclusion and expand the availability of financial services to customers so that they have more trust in the financial system. The confidence in the banking system is already relatively high, but I would like to support and strengthen it. A separate task is the development of the non-bank financial sector. We have quite a small share of pension funds and insurance companies, though they are a source of long money necessary to economic development. These are the key objectives in this field. QUESTION from Reuters: 11 / 14  BIS central bankers' speeches  The seasonal nature of the balance of payments makes analysts expect purchases of foreign currency conducted by the Ministry of Finance to have larger impact on the ruble exchange rate in April. Do you support this view? And a question about methodology.