OREANDA-NEWS The volume of foreign cash held by households in the Russian Federation at the beginning of the year amounted to 8.72 trillion rubles, and the increase in the indicator for last year was significantly less than a year earlier, according to the materials of the Bank of Russia.

Thus, according to the Central Bank, the increase in foreign currency in cash last year amounted to 1.4 trillion rubles, whereas in 2022 it was 3.2 trillion.

At the same time, last December, as the Central Bank points out, "in accordance with seasonal patterns", the ruble cash of the population increased, but the growth rate was also significantly less than the same indicator in previous years.

The Central Bank attributed this to the flow of household funds to other (urgent) ruble deposits in the context of rising bank rates and increasing the attractiveness of bank deposits.

In addition, the regulator reported that, according to preliminary estimates, the increase in household funds on deposits in non-resident banks, according to preliminary estimates, was less than in November and amounted to 87.9 billion rubles.