The purchase of precious metals in Russia is subject to 20 percent sales tax. This should now fall so that citizens buy gold instead of dollars or euros to protect themselves against ruble losses. Moscow also wants to “de-dollarize” its own citizens
In Russia, the purchase of precious metals such as platinum, gold and silver was previously subject to a sales tax of 20 percent. However, this was not refunded when it was sold to the bank, so that private individuals hardly ever invested in such assets. Above all, the US dollar and the euro served as protection against inflation. One reason for this was the fact that the Russian leadership wanted to strengthen the central bank’s gold reserves in order to promote de-dollarization. In other words, as much gold as possible should go to the country’s top currency watchdog and not into the safes of Russian citizens.
Well, with the invasion of Ukraine and the massive devaluation of the ruble against the major currencies, the demand for these foreign currencies is also growing. But the political leadership of the largest country in the world wants to reduce this demand. Deputies of the State Duma (lower house) have launched an initiative to abolish sales tax on the purchase of precious metals. This is also supported by the Ministry of Finance. This is intended to create an incentive to stock up on gold and silver bars or coins. This also alleviates the pressure on the central bank to distribute its foreign currency reserves.
What does that mean? It simply means that Russia has now effectively started remonetizing gold for domestic purposes. With the abolition of VAT on gold purchases, Russian citizens can now offset their currency risk with gold and stabilize the domestic currency situation. In fact, it is better to put rubles into gold and silver than into dollars and euros.
The first step in offsetting the West’s financial war is for local people to become immune to the collapse of their currency at the hands of foreign actors withdrawing capital from the country. Companies doing international business now have the opportunity to hold fixed deposits that are far less volatile than the ruble without being penalized for doing so. Gold becomes the coin for Russia’s international trade. It is the beginning of the process of taking even more physical gold from the world market. This is also a first step to restore confidence in the Russian banking system. In addition, the de-dollarization of Russia should be pushed forward, which in turn harms the Americans.
