Page 84 - RusRPTMay21

6.2 Debt
According to the Bank of Russia’s estimate external debt of the Russian Federation as of March 31, 2021 totalled $459.3bn. Since the last year end the volume of the country’s foreign debt has decreased by $8.6bn mainly due to a decline of other sectors’ liabilities in external loans, as well as a decrease in non-resident portfolio of sovereign securities.
The impact of the April 15 US sanctions is clearly visible in Russia's foreign debt. Since the financial sanctions in 2014, the foreign debt of Russian banks and other companies has decreased significantly. At the end of March 2021, Russia's external debt was $459bn, down 37% from the end of 2013. The foreign debt of Russian banks was $74bn, which was only a third of the debt at the end of 2013. Russia's two largest banks, Sber and VTB, do not receive financing for more than a month, e.g. The United States and the European Union,BOFIT Policy Brief 2/2019 ).
Russian external debt shrank by $8.5bn to $459.3bn in the first quarter of 2021. This was driven mostly by an $8.1bn decline in corporate debt to
84 RUSSIA Country Report May 2021 www.intellinews.com