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8.5.1 Fixed income - bond news
Russia's Finance Ministry plans to expand the retail sales network for the federal government's OFZ bonds , adding two state banks Promsvyazbank (PSB, bailed out by the central bank in 2017) and Post Bank (controlled by state bank VTB) to the country's largest banks Sberbank and VTB Bank as sellers of the so-called "people's bonds", Vedomosti daily said on July 23. The ministry will also stimulate demand for OFZ bonds by lifting banking commission for OFZ-n bonds, which could amount to 0.5-1.5% depending on the amount of the bonds bought. Previously the finance ministry planned to increase the issuance of "people's bonds" from RUB45bn in 2018 to RUB100bn ($1.6bn). The OFZ-n bonds were first placed in April 2017 . The attempt to revive the retail inflow into the OFZ bonds comes after in June and the second quarter of 2018 foreign investors pulled RUB152bn ($2.4bn) and RUB380bn respectively out of the market . As of the end of the reporting period non-resident holdings in OFZ totalled RUB1.97 trillion.
59 RUSSIA Country Report August 2018 www.intellinews.com
