MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia will cut its 2021 state borrowing plan more than expected and will offer only new OFZ treasury bonds from June 14, the date after which U.S. banks will be barred from buying rouble-denominated Russian state debt, the finance ministry said.
The United States imposed a broad array of anti-Russian sanctions, including on purchases of Russian debt, to punish Moscow for alleged interference in U.S. elections, cyber-hacking and other “malign” acts.
Commenting on the U.S. move, which battered the rouble and OFZ bonds, the finance ministry said on Thursday it decided to cut this year’s borrowing plan by 875 billion roubles ($11.45 billion) and would be flexible over OFZ bond placement plans.
The ministry had earlier considered cutting the 2021 borrowing plan from 3.7 trillion roubles by up to 700 billion roubles.
In order to avoid the risk of forced selling of its state bonds by foreign investors, the finance ministry said it would offer only new OFZ series after June 14 and would stop offering top-up OFZ series that were registered before that date.
The central bank said it was ready to use the tools it has to preserve financial stability if needed.
The bank is due to consider whether to raise interest rates at its next policy meeting on April 23.
($1 = 76.4000 roubles)
(Reporting by Darya Korsunskaya and Elena Fabrichnya; Writing by Andrey Ostroukh; Editing by Gareth Jones)
