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MinFin’s plan also means there will only be enough sovereign international borrowings to maintain a benchmark for corporate issuers and to keep the curve vital. As the current account remains in the black, MinFin doesn’t see the need to issue a lot of dollar debt. and so it does not see any good reasons to issue hard currency debt. And dollar debt would drive the ruble up at a time the government is trying to keep it weak. MinFin sees net issuance volumes being negative in the next three years: at minus RUB 21.2bn this year, minus RUB 60.1bn in 2018 and minus RUB 13.2bn in 2019. According to the budget, there is $3.0bn of annual gross international new issuance planned for 2017-19 (down from the boom year $7bn a year). On top of that, MinFin plans to offer to exchange some old bonds into new ones ($4.0bn-worth) this year, but that is a non-cash transaction. Meanwhile, there is $2.0bn of bonds maturing this year, $3.5bn in 2018 and $1.5bn in 2019. On top of that, there is $1.3bn of RUSSIA 30 annual amortisation.
55 RUSSIA Country Report February 2017 www.intellinews.com