Digital ruble to become part of budget process: a new bill submitted to State Duma

The Russian government submitted a bill to the State Duma aimed at providing a legislative framework for the mechanisms to handle the digital ruble as part of the budgeting process. The document published in the database of the lower house of parliament provides for amendments to the Budget Code of the Russian Federation. 

The key innovation will be the introduction of the concept of a “digital ruble account of the Federal Treasury” into legislation. The bill establishes the functions of the Bank of Russia such as free maintenance of this account and rendering respective services based on the digital ruble platform. Besides, the bill clarifies the powers of the Federal Treasury insofar it concerns managing digital rubles, settlements and operations related to replenishing the account, transfers and crediting receipts to budgets of various levels. 

According to the explanatory note, the digital ruble will be used for certain government expenditures starting from October 1, 2025. The list of eligible expenditures will be agreed with the Bank of Russia and approved by the government. These restrictions are expected to be lifted from January 1, 2026, so that any budget expenditures can be made using digital currency. The platform operator will be responsible for payments from digital platform users to the state, as well as digital ruble transfers to budgetary and autonomous institutions.

The rollout of the digital ruble will also affect regional and local budgets, extra-budgetary funds and other participants in treasury support. The launch of the system for these categories is scheduled for July 1, 2027, after the adaptation of digital tools in the information systems of the Federal Treasury.

Source: TASS.

Tweet